call it we're talking at the beginning before President Trump and Melania came
in and they were reminiscing I saw at one point Hillary Clinton was talking to
Lynne Cheney it was very friendly there was a lot of chitchat going on but when
President Trump and Melania came in it was starkly different President Obama
shook his hand Michelle Obama former First Lady's said good morning and that
was it and then turned and look forward and there was there was the others did
not greet him former President George W Bush the son went over and shook his
hand when he came but there was a stark contrast and there is no question I
think no one is surprised about that and just that they're showing that the
images of what you were just describing so we can see it again and that's one
other thing I want to point out yeah Hillary Clinton she never looked to her
right no ever look I mean and President Clinton who shakes everybody's that you
know and he he did not it stopped over Jimmy Carter down at the end who's
actually had more kind words at times for for president Trump didn't didn't
look down so that so that was very different I think the other thing that
no doubt will be discussed is while President Trump's name was never said in
any of the speeches the tributes to former President Bush every word every
adjective every anecdote stood in stark contrast to this presidency
and I think we're gonna be talking a lot about factly and and I genuinely don't
think it was intentional at this funeral no it was just describing the late
president the 41st president and it is it is what it is correct when it is
making the tribute it was another time another person and it couldn't have been
more stark Thank You Jamie huh Anderson back to you Danna thanks very
much David Gerken as we watched that picture of of all the presidents I was
watching former President Obama in this image and I couldn't help but we've all
been in situations where were in an awkward seat and sort of awkwardness is
happening around us he seems to maybe I'm projecting onto it but he seems to
kind of have almost a slight smile on his face sort of aware of the
awkwardness that he is in the buffer position here I think that's true and it
was remarkable just to his left the the Clintons and everybody else looking
straight ahead or not paying any attention as if sort of but I think
president for all of them even though it was an awkward moment
it was this was really more about George HW Bush and I was about Bill Gluba
about about Trump and I think they keep their emphases there and I must say from
my perspective the four eulogies were the finest we've heard and by analytical
memory you know writes in the first moment when Jon Meacham took took sit up
and talk to it told a riveting story of how Bush was shot down out of the skies
and and was waiting in the air you know and it was miraculously rescued but he's
lost his two men and he asked that question why was I spared and he spent
the rest of his life seeking an answer to that through service right from that
first moment to the last moment when George W Bush choked up and said what my
father wanted to do was to go back and hug robbed again and hold Barbara's hand
again I mean even now just telling the story it's moving yeah and also the the
minister who was with the family when when when the President passed telling
about James Baker yes massage in the 15
of the president you could see on I mean Baker yeah crying understandably but I
mean such an intimate personal moment it was just it was extraordinary to hear
that I thought they were best pals and and we're so for years because one Baker
lost her child and the bushes turned to him and they became friends and became
tennis partners and alike but I think that Jim Baker would also be
uncomfortable comparing that to the last days of Christ and the washing of the
feet I guess that's just not who he is there's a most steadfast friend by the
way the hearse just passing the World War Two memorial that you see there on
the wall he's a guy who snuck in the Gray Goose wonder what's terror to you
well I think that powerful image of George HW Bush surviving the crash and
then thinking about what to do with the rest of his life everyone each of the
four eulogist talked about his his service I was struck by the fact that
George HW Bush was the chief architect of a world that is being dissolved now
he is the chief architect of the revitalization of NATO of the
revitalization of the United Nations of NAFTA all of the key parts of the
post-cold war world that George HW Bush believed were necessary to keep the
peace and make the world prosperous it was beautiful to see that reminder see
that reminder it was powerful and I wondered as that was being said what
certain members of the audience those listening might have thought about the
celebration of a world I would argue that will not go away but a world that
is now under deep pressure that was George HW Bush's legacy not just the
humanity not just the decency not just the dignity but actual changes in our
world and I think celebrating that today was important Mary Kate as a
speechwriter for yes so years ago when President Ford died President Bush gave
a eulogy like we just heard just now and my my children went
the National Cathedral school and knew all the choir boys and the choir boys
had a vote and voted that President Bush gave the best eulogy so I sent him a
note and said hey congratulations you won the choir boy but and he wrote me
back and he said overwhelmed not am i mary-kate imagine a guy like me winning
the vote of the National Cathedral Choir boys regarding my eulogy for President
Ford and and I think I'm sure when President Bush gave that eulogy he was
thinking about what can young people learn from President Ford and you me
recalled Ford's funeral there were Boy Scouts as uh sure 'he's so there were a
lot of young people in the audience at the time and I thought so many times
today what can young people learn from George Bush from the ceremony I think
there probably were a lot of young people watching because I assume some of
the schools were closed or as schools had them watch it and the things that
jumped out to me were decency loyalty humor love the high road to humility as
Alan Simpson said and a man who believed in things larger than himself many young
people want to believe in something larger than themselves
and and then as Jon Meacham put it making sure that the lives of others are
freer better warmer and nobler Russ Levinson at the end there of his eulogy
said you know that he didn't think there should be an end to an era and I thought
that's a lot lately everybody keeps saying at the end of an era and that's
kind of bothering me he said it should be instead an invitation to fill the
hole that is left behind and that's what the biggest message to young people is
don't see this as something that's never coming back you this as an invitation to
be just like George Bush so that that error that generation of saw service as
an interval as just kind of a given I mean that it is it does harken back to
it to another time I mean you look at you know again he didn't have to go into
World War two when it when he did I mean he could have stayed at Yale and you
know played baseball and done all the things that a lot of other people one of
the things we we have to come to grips with is the effect of losing the World
War two generation on our politics one of the things that's striking about
George Bush is he did not like ideologies
didn't like inflexibility that's he was a pragmatist but he was a he was a
moderate conservative Republican and he was uncomfortable when people didn't
give when they didn't see compromise nobody but the parties you know the
truth of the matter is that what is going on in our country now is that the
bush party the bush republican party is gone and the Trump Republican Party is
dominant and I think that this is the struggle that that is underlying what we
what we saw today without it without it being mentioned and and I think the
message from today is neither one has to go away completely you don't need to
vanquish the values of a bush to have some of the politics or the policies if
you will of what of what troop wants and it doesn't have to be a world war it's
interesting to me you made a point about this the world the the international
order that President George HW Bush presided over held together and Brian
Mulroney the Canadian Prime Minister former Canadian Prime Minister talked
about being together Labor Day 2001 this serenity that the bushes felt about
their personal lives about where they were of course this is just about 10
days before 9/11 when a lot of that international order collapsed and it was
his own son who as president challenged a lot of the things that President Bush
forded once stood for as a diplomat astride the world stage and that tension
President to president at different generations on either side of an act of
terror were really striking go back to the World War two generation point as I
think it is important to clearly define George HW Bush's life
that is we had seven presidents in a row starting with John F Kennedy coming
through George Bush Senior who were the World War two presents all came of age
during World War two every single one of those presidents
port military uniform six other one the war only Jimmy Carter he was in the
Naval Academy when the war ended and he went on served honorably but that
experience shaped him enormous Lee so that when George Bush Senior had his
inaugural parade there was a replica of that Avenger aircraft that he was in
that was in that parade and that was quite purposeful on his part
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