From Bush to Clinton, a grace note for the ages

Passion for golf and fast play

WASHINGTON, Dec 2, (AP): It was a grace note for the ages.”Dear Bill,” George H.W. Bush scribbled Jan 20, 1993, to the Democrat about to succeed him as president. “When I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that, too.”

Short yet intimate, the note left in the Oval Office from vanquished to victor seeded a friendship that flowered in the decades since, to a point where Bill Clinton said upon Bush’s death Friday : “I just loved him.”

Hillary Clinton says the letter made her cry, when she first read it back then and again when she heard Bush was gone. “That’s the America we love,” she said on Instagram . “That is what we cherish and expect.”

Bush

Traditional

It is traditional for an outgoing president to leave a letter for his successor. Barack Obama’s to Donald Trump offered congratulations on “a remarkable run” and checked off verities of American leadership – advice to “build more ladders of success,” ‘’sustain the international order,” yet take time for family. It was as guarded as when they awkwardly posed for photos together and shook hands.

Bush, who months before writing his letter had warned voters to “watch your wallet” with that Democrat Clinton, was self-effacing and personal in his handoff.

“I wish you great happiness here,” he wrote. “I never felt the loneliness some presidents have described. There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I’m not a very good one to give advice; but just don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.

“You will be our President when you read this note,” he continued (underlining “our”). “I wish you well. I wish your family well.

“Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you. “Good Luck – George” Writing in The Washington Post on Saturday, Bill Clinton said those words showed a man with “natural humanity.”

Clinton said the two men had a respectful friendship during his own presidency, but it was after that they truly got to know each other, when president George W. Bush asked his father and Clinton to be involved in US relief efforts for the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster and Hurricane Karina in 2005. They traveled together far and wide in their efforts.

“His friendship has been one of the great gifts of my life,” Clinton said. “I cherished every opportunity I had to learn and laugh with him.”

They were 22 years apart – Clinton, 72, Bush, 94.

In June, Clinton visited Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, and a photo posted on Twitter shows the 41st and 42nd presidents together as Bush displays a pair of “Bill Clinton socks” from his colorful sock collection.

Affection between presidents, across today’s toxic political divide, has extended beyond Clinton and the elder Bush. The Clintons and the Obamas both became friendly with the Bush family and attended Barbara Bush’s funeral in April. Trump did not, though first lady Melania Trump did.

As much as former president George H.W. Bush loved golf, he was never on the course very long.

For all his passion and heritage in golf – his grandfather and father were USGA presidents – the 41st president was mainly known for being the best example of the Rule 6-7: “Play without undue delay.”

Davis Love III discovered this during one outing at Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport, Maine.

“We were playing and one of the Secret Service guys, his phone starts ringing,” Love said. “He said, ‘Mr President, it’s President Clinton.’ And President Bush says, ‘Well, I’m hitting.’ He hands me the phone and says, ‘Talk to him for a second.’ So I’m there talking to President Clinton while president Bush is hitting his shot. You just never knew what was going to happen next.”

Bush died Friday night at his home in Houston at age 94.

“His name is synonymous with golf,” said Tiger Woods, who played with Bush in Houston while still an amateur. “Being around him for all these years and getting a chance to be around him at Presidents Cup ... he was such a class act. Anyone who’s ever been around him knows how much he loved his golf and how much he supported it and how much we’re going to miss him.”

He was one of two presidents to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, in 2011, two years after President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and his involvement went well beyond the golf he played so quickly.

He was honorary chairman of The First Tee, the program that began in 1997 to bring golf’s core values to kids. He was chairman of the Presidents Cup, and stayed involved by rarely miss-