Keeping the Press Barking up the Wrong Tree

I own an English Springer Spaniel named O'Toole after the actor, Peter. These spaniels are much like that actor--somewhat aloof, completely charming and totally unpredictable.

I say all this because I don't want to be accused of dog-badgering or pet abuse. But if I hear one more cute tale about Milly the First Dog and her pups, I think I might rent some hungry Dobermans and teach those mutts a thing or two about survival of the fittest.

All the talk about Milly and her recent litter has been part of the White House's conscious campaign to make the Bush family appear as one, big, happy clan.

After the Reagans, whose immediate familes were estranged and alienated, left the White House, the Bushes arrived, complete with family portrait. After hiring Roger Ailes and Lee Atwater and conducting one of the most brutal campaigns in recent memory, George Bush turned into Pappa Bush.

We were invited into the Bush house-hold after the inauguration. Forget their elite past, we are one of them now. Welcome to the new White House. In the 1970s it was the Brady Bunch. In the '80s and '90s, it's the Bush Bunch.

I apologize for the analogy, but this is clearly Bush's intention. I don't want to hear that this is really the way the Bushes act--cute, lovable and united. But when the most productive and fertile element coming from the White House has been six Springer Spaniels, something is clearly amiss.

Although his presidency is three months old, Bush has still not presented reasonable solutions to the problems that face the U.S. But rather than worry about the nation, Bush seems to be saying we should instead look at how nice the people in the White House are. Issues and policies often are not admirable, but Mrs. Bush--well, now there is someone to admire.

Everything about Mrs. Bush, dubbed the "Silver Fox" for her hair color and personality, has been applauded and publicized. You knew Grandma Barbara was something special when she converted Nancy Reagan's exercise room into an extra bedroom for the kids. Now there's a Mom.

With the Silver Fox are the Bush troops. The president found himself in a little trouble during the GOP Convention when he, pointing out a few grandchildren to Reagan, referred to the children of a Latino daughter-in-law as the "little brown ones."

But they are an embarrassment no longer. Bush's son and grandson went to earthquake-stricken Armenia to help in relief efforts. Several are involved in child or community programs. It seems they are as much a part of policy initiatives as John Sununu, and more so than Dan Quayle.

THIS image of the large, happy family is perfect for the Society Papers. The weekend Milly had her pups, there was extensive coverage of how the dog-house was hand-built, and of how the president was kicked out of the room when Milly was scared and wanted to be with Barbara.

There was also the tale of the chief executive receiving a call during a White House screening of New York Stories to hear the news he was a "grand-owner."

It happens that the guests at the screening were members of the press, including William Safire, an influential columnist for the New York Times, whose column the next week was all about how cute, open and family-like the Bush White House is.

It's not unusual for the press to take an interest in presidential families. Jackie O. and the Kennedy kids, LBJ's daughters, the Nixon wedding and Billy Carter all were played prominently in the national news. Their lives, romances and struggles are of national interest.

The problem today, however, is that this curiosity is drawing our attention from substantive concerns. We may applaud the fact that the Bush White House is a lot more open than the secretive and "basement" attitudes of the Reagan days, but the press is reporting the diversion, not the issue.

For eight years, Reagan treated the press as if it had leprosy. The Bush approach, to treat the press as friend and confidant rather than journalist, is quite different. If it goes too far, if journalists become indebted to the president for his time and hospitality, the press may become less critical and less searching.

After all, who could ever be mean to Mike and Carol Brady?