George Walker Bush
乔治·布什
In his father’s presidential race in 1988, Bush Jr. became his father’s aid. This was the first time the two had worked together closely as adults, and Big George came to appreciate his son’s political instincts. When George Bush won the election, his eldest son returned to Texas, a move that shocked Washington careerists. But Junior had something also in mind.
1988年在他父亲竞选总统时,小布什成为父亲的助手。这是他们俩人第一次作为成年人在一起密切合作。于是老布什逐渐欣赏儿子的政治素质。当老布什在大选中获胜后,他的大儿子却返回德克萨斯,这一举动使华 盛顿的野心家们感到很吃惊,但小布什已另有打算了。
He was thinking hard about running for Governor of Texas. Texas is a big media state. Name identification is important. And Bush had got it. But he needed an accomplishment that belonged to his own. He didn’t want anyone to say “he is riding on Daddy’s name.” So he bought a baseball team titled “Texas Rangers”. He gave speeches across Texas in support of the team. His down-home style was always on display. He hated to ride in limo, even someone else,s,and the Bushes lived in a modest brick house. Their only luxury was private school for their twin daughters, Barbara and Tenna. He dressed as indifferent as ever, in cheap suits and boots emblazoned with the flag of Texas. At the Rangers office, he insisted on wearing a pair of shoes with a large hole in them.
这时他在认真考虑竞选德州州长。德州是一个传媒 大州,知名度是很重要的,而小布什拥有这一点。不过他还需一份属于自己的成就,他不想别人说“他是靠爸爸的名气”。于是他买下了名为“德克萨斯骑警队”的 棒球队。他到德州各处发表演说为该球队寻求赞助。他不断表现出纯朴的风格。他讨厌坐豪华轿车,即便是别人的也不坐。布什一家住在一所朴素的砖房里。他们惟一奢侈的就是让他们的双胞胎女儿芭芭拉和坦娜在一所 私立学校就读。小布什的穿着还像以前一样很普通—— 廉价的西装和印有德州旗帜的靴子。在“骑警队”的办公室里,他坚持穿着一双已有一个大洞的鞋子。
Someone said that Bush’s political base was built on twin platforms: his Rangers celebrity and the prodigious campaigning he had done for his father throughout Texas in 1980,1984, 1988 and 1992. In 1992, after his father lost in his presidential re-election, Bush began to run for Governor of Texas. He traveled across the state, applying the lessons he’d learned from his parents: trust your instincts, be down-home, enforce discipline and walked all the way into the state house.
有人说,小布什的政治基础是建立在两个跳板上的:他的“骑警队”的名气和他于1980年、1984年、 1988年和1992年在德州为他父亲所做的大量竞选工作。 1992年在他父亲第二次竞选总统失败后,小布什开始竞 选德州州长。他踏遍德州,运用他从父母那里学到的:相信你的素质、保持淳朴、加强纪律,结果走进了德州的州政大厅。