A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Blake Gottesman, the president’s “body guy,” who sticks close behind Bush for 14 to 18 hours a day. (If you’ve seen the TV show, “The West Wing,” Gottesman is like Charlie.) Gottesman, despite having less than one year of undergraduate work under his belt, is off to Harvard Business School, thanks to a little help from his boss.
Before he escapes White House life, Gottesman chatted briefly with Time magazine’s Mike Allen. He offered an interesting insight into Bush’s temperament.
On the road [Gottesman will] crack a joke if Bush is getting tense.
“If the aide looks nervous, the President will think there’s something to be nervous about,” Gottesman, who is intensely private even for a Bushie, tells TIME in a rare interview. “So you look calm even when everything is going wrong.”
It was probably just an off-hand comment, but this struck me as a helpful peek into the president’s personality. No matter what the circumstances, Bush, who is apparently far more sensitive than he lets on, wants those around him to appear relaxed, even when they’re not, because our delicate president might otherwise get flustered.
Bush has surrounded himself with loyal confidants, but when they talk, they say interesting things, don’t they?
There’s this gem from last year:
It’s a standing joke among the president’s top aides: who gets to deliver the bad news? Warm and hearty in public, Bush can be cold and snappish in private, and aides sometimes cringe before the displeasure of the president of the United States…. Bush can be petulant about dissent; he equates disagreement with disloyalty.
I’m also reminded of a Time interview with a “youngish” White House aide, described as a Bush favorite, who said, “The first time I told him he was wrong, he started yelling at me. Then I showed him where he was wrong, and he said, ‘All right. I understand. Good job.’ He patted me on the shoulder. I went and had dry heaves in the bathroom.”
And now, Bush’s “body guy” is talking about keeping on airs for a nervous president. Oh the books the Bush gang could write….