How Bush Operated as Young Governor of Texas

In my view, President Bush is a prime example of the old saying "A students never get out of college, and B students work for C students". -JTW

Records show Bush's focus on big picture

August 2, 2000
Web posted at: 2:48 p.m. EDT (1848 GMT)

By Alan C. Miller, Judy Pasternak/Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

AUSTIN, Texas (Los Angeles Times) --By all accounts, Gov. George W. Bush is not a detail man. He never read the 261-page report resulting from a $1.8-million investigation of the Texas A&M University bonfire collapse that killed 11 students and a recent graduate. Nor did he read the 36-page executive summary.

"I highlighted half a page," said Clay Johnson, Bush's chief of staff. "He read that."

In his fourth month as governor, Bush pared the time generally reserved for final review of each scheduled execution from 30 minutes to 15.

He usually offered pithy replies when his public utilities commissioner, Patrick Henry Wood III, sought guidance on long-term goals or how to handle a particular lawmaker. But whenever Wood raised a technical matter, the boss cut him off.

"Pat, I have you to do that," Wood recalled Bush saying. "Don't ask me to do that."

Over and over, the presumed Republican nominee for president points to his experience governing the second-largest state as his primary training ground for the White House. How Bush spent his time--a chief executive's most valuable and finite commodity--reflects the way he wielded political power from the second floor of the pink granite Texas Capitol.

His admirers describe a classic problem-solver who does not waste a minute, cuts to a matter's core and builds coalitions. His detractors say he misses important nuances, avoids divisive issues and ducks adversaries who differ with his agenda. ... MORE