Inaugural festivities herald Texan takeover Boots, 10-gallon hat to become symbols of Bush legacy

WASHINGTON – Reagan had his jellybeans, Clinton his cat Socks, Carter his cardigan sweater and Kennedy his mystique and rocking chair. Daddy Bush didn’t really have a clear-cut symbol, he was a Texan, a son of a Connecticut senator and a man who loved the rocky shore of Kennebunkport, Maine. The symbol of his legacy was muddled.

But his son? George W. – or Dubya, to some of his friends – has this act down pat: He’s bringing boots (and a 10-gallon hat). And, as a Texan, he’s proud of them.

Washington is being swept with the claim of unity and the reality of division. The Senate is split 50-50 and a unique power-sharing arrangement is in place. But with Vice President Dick Cheney about to occupy the chair as president of the Senate, Republicans will have de facto control of both chambers of Congress and the White House by Saturday afternoon.

The honeymoon? That was obliterated by Florida’s chads and conservative Cabinet nominees that riled the left. The hoped for smooth sailing for Bush’s nominees slammed into the temporary Democratic majority on Capitol Hill. Gone is the Labor nominee, Linda Chavez; Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft, a former Missouri Senator, faced a vitriolic grilling from those concerned about his philosophy. And Interior candidate Gale Norton is being challenged by environmentalists as too pro development.

The festivities of this new dawn started Thursday afternoon when Ricky Martin, a pop artist, joined actor Sly Stallone (“Rocky”) and Robert Conrad (“The Wild, Wild West” television show) among others in a concert celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.

Today will feature informal events, a Hispanic caucus and Laura Bush’s commitment to reading at an authors’ celebration. Bush and the new Education Secretary designate, Roderick R. Paige will tout education, at the MCI Center, a sports arena that will feature youth entertainment.

On Saturday morning, President Clinton, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., will host the incoming first family at the White House. Bush will come to the White House after praying with his wife, Laura, across the street at St. John’s Episcopal Church – as incoming presidents have for centuries.

Then the 42nd president will ride to the Capitol with the 43rd-president-to-be in that special armored limousine. When they part, one man will head for Andrews Air Force Base in nearby Suitland, Md., and his last official trip on Air Force One. It will be a ride into the background – at least temporarily – as the youthful Clinton will head for his new home in Chappaqua, N.Y., his political future in doubt, but rosy.

Bush will go into EF-100, a special, centrally located holding room in the U.S. Capitol where he’ll primp for the speech of a lifetime that few get the chance to make.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill Saturday, Maine supporters who want to show their support can gather at the Senate Commerce Committee hearing room for a breakfast jointly hosted by Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan M. Collins. At the breakfast, the senators will be passing out some of the tickets they were allocated for the swearing-in ceremony. The senators each had about 400 tickets; House members Tom Allen and John E. Baldacci, while Democrats, still got the 177 tickets that each member of the House was allocated.

Among those on hand at the breakfast will be John Callahan III, a 7-year-old from Poland, Maine, who is a “big” Bush supporter and managed to get the attention of Collins – and a three tickets to the event.

Around 10 a.m., Snowe and Collins and the rest of the Senate will head to the West Front of the Capitol, the side that flows down spacious Jenkins Hill toward the National Mall. Temperatures will be in the high 40s, maybe hitting 50 by noon, but a strong rain is expected.

There, on white-painted scaffolding that has been constructed to look like an extension to the Capitol building, at just about noon, before scores of television cameras from around the globe and the throngs of tens of thousands of well-wishers and thousands of protesters, the mantle of power will shift seamlessly in the world’s remaining superpower. The challenges of illegitimacy to this presidency – Bush lost the popular vote and won an electoral victory by just a single vote – will soften just for a while.

In repeating 35 words from the Constitution, Bush will transform his life from ex-baseball team owner and former Texas governor, to a select group of men who have called the Oval Office their daily workspace. He may, as presidents have on their own, add the words: “so help me God” to the official phrases he is asked to repeat by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. When he finishes, his hand coming off the 233-year-old King James Bible first used by George Washington, Bush will be the 43rd president, and the second to have served after his father.

The inaugural speech is expected to be uncharacteristically short – estimated by the Bush-Cheney Inaugural Foundation at 12 to 15 minutes. It will focus on unity.

Bush will retreat to a lunch with congressional leaders and then, around 2 p.m., move along the parade route to the reviewing stand in front of his new home at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.

In the parade will be the Spartans Drum & Bugle Corp., of Nashua, N.H., which includes several Kennebunk-area students. The Westbrook High School Marching Band, selected to stand along the parade route and perform – not march – said no to their invitation, angry that they couldn’t be full players in the festivities. Nearby, where the U.S. Botanic Garden is being rebuilt, the construction wall is festooned with children’s artwork, including a handful from kids in Maine.

The protesters will be there too. Some groups will represent outgoing Vice President Al Gore, the real president they’ll say. Others will devote their chants to protesting issues and the Ashcroft and Norton nominations. A contingent from the Maine Green Party and Voter March will be down from Portland.

Through it all the new symbol of power will be present: boots.

In fact, white fancy boots – on women – is the way to go, says Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who’ll sport an Oscar de la Renta dress and boots with a big Texas symbol. Boot shops are hard-pressed to meet demand and tuxedo shops are not making as many sales of traditional foot-garb as a result. The Texas delegation, in fact, will host a “Black Tie & Boots Ball” at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel blocks from the White House tonight. Whether Maine’s contingent will follow suit in the footwear department during Saturday evening’s presidential balls remains unclear.

Maine attendees for the inaugural will share a Wardman Park ballroom Saturday night with those from 13 other states and a variety of U.S. territories. At some point in the evening they will get to see the new president and the new First Lady dance. The Bushes will make an appearance at each of several balls around the capital and will probably end up at the Texas or Florida ball.