George Walker Bush put the family name back in the White House as 43rd president of the US yesterday, with an inaugural promise to lead with "civility, courage, compassion and character."
In the high-noon pageantry of the transfer of power, George Herbert Walker Bush stood proud witness to his son's inauguration 12 years after his own.
PHOTO: REUTERS
And Bill Clinton, who defeated the elder Bush, stood aside, spared the prospect of post-presidential prosecution by surrendering his law license and admitting he made false statements in a last-day deal over the sex scandal that led to his impeachment.
Bush said he will "live and lead" by firm principles: "To advance my convictions with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater justice and compassion, to call for responsibility, and try to live it as well."
He told Americans that "what you do is as important as anything government does.
"I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort, to defend needed reforms against easy attacks, to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor.
"I ask you to be citizens," he said. "Citizens not spectators. Citizens not subjects. Responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character."
So end two terms of Democratic rule, and so returns a Republican, and a Bush, to the White House.
For the new president, Saturday's public schedule began with a traditional worship service at St John's Episcopal Church, across Lafayette Park from the White House. His family, wife Laura, 19-year-old twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, the former president and Barbara Bush, were with him. So was his vice president, Dick Cheney.
Next, coffee at the White House with Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, the Democrat whom Bush so narrowly defeated.
Bush promised a "greatness of America" inaugural address emphasizing unity. He also promised to be brief -- 13 minutes, he figured. But he said with his trademark grin that it might take longer should there be interruptions for applause.
Ovations are an inaugural custom, from the leaders of government and the diplomatic corps in their seats of privilege on the West Front of the Capitol and from the throngs standing for blocks along the rain-soaked National Mall, a vista framed by the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
Bush said he will speak and work for people who don't think prosperity is part of their lives, who may not trust the system of justice, who "don't feel America's so great for them." Black voters opposed him 10 to one, and some still dispute the legitimacy of his victory.
The new President Bush is the first Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953 to take office with Republican control of both the House, narrowly, and the Senate, only because of the tie-breaking vote of the new vice president, Dick Cheney.
Even as Bush prepared to take the oath of office, Clinton was still doing business yesterday morning. "I pledged that I would work until the last hour of the last day. Well, here we are," he said in his final weekly radio address, recorded on Friday.
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