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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (268451)	6/30/2002 2:27:04 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Bush Resumes Office Following Colon Test By Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 30, 2002; Page A13 President Bush transferred the powers of his office to Vice President Cheney yesterday before being sedated for a colon test that found no problems, then reclaimed authority two hours and 15 minutes later. After being sedated for 20 minutes for the test at Camp David, Bush ate a waffle and played with his dogs Barney and Spot before telling aides he was ready to resume power, White House officials said. Cheney, 61, responded to the transfer of power with similar nonchalance, holding regular national security and homeland security meetings with aides at the White House but making no appearances and taking no recorded actions, according to his staff. Bush invoked the Constitution's 25th Amendment, which provides for the temporary transfer of power if the president is unable to fulfill his duties, at 7:09 a.m. Military doctors then administered an anesthetic and performed the colonoscopy, finishing at 7:29 a.m. "No polyps were found and no evidence of any abnormalities was discovered," a White House statement said. "The president awoke at 7:31 a.m. The power of the presidency was returned to President Bush at 9:24 a.m." White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales said Bush waited to resume his duties because officials wanted "to reassure everyone that the president was not going to be making a decision to rush back into and assume authority and power." Officials said Bush then took a 4.5-mile walk around Camp David with first lady Laura Bush, younger brother Marvin Bush, and Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. and his wife, Kathleene. The presidential physician, Air Force Col. Richard J. Tubb, appearing afterward at the White House in a white coat with the presidential seal, said Bush was in good spirits and "continues to be in outstanding health." "He is an inquisitive patient – he wants to know exactly what's going to transpire and afterwards, what has transpired," Tubb said. "He would be joking about the exam and about wanting to get back to a normal diet and normal activity." Tubb recommended similar screening for people over 50 – Bush will turn 56 on Saturday – and said colon cancer often has no symptoms or warnings. Bush is not expected to need another colonoscopy for five years. Aides said Bush was enjoying a light workout, probably stretching and sit-ups, during the briefing at the White House. Bush is devoted to an intensive weight-lifting and treadmill regimen and recently was a top finisher in a three-mile run he put on for his staff. Asked about Bush's weight, Tubb said he has had no reason to recheck it because Bush, who is 6 feet tall, weighed 189.75 pounds during a physical last August. "I can tell you that he has been working very, very hard in his fitness program, and I think the results show," Tubb said. White House officials said it is up to the president whether to hand over power by invoking Section 3 of the 25th Amendment. Tubb said he supported Bush's decision to do so because "medically, the president would be at least momentarily unable to answer issues that arose." Gonzales said factors considered by Bush included "the length of the procedure, the relationship with the vice president, things going on domestically and internationally." White House officials said they are always conscious of setting precedents. "I don't think that you can glean from this that every time there will be a minor or even a more serious procedure, that the president is going to invoke Section 3," Gonzales said. Bush said Friday that he planned to transfer power to be "super-cautious" in wartime. Officials said the decision partly reflected their worry about another terrorist attack, citing a continuing increase in nonspecific warnings from intelligence. The officials also said they had learned, from Cheney's heart problems and from their tardy disclosure about the removal of benign lesions from Bush's face in December, that reporters respond intensively to issues regarding the commander in chief's health. "There's so much uncertainty on every level, so why not do the incredibly prudent thing?" a senior official said. Gonzales said Friday that the 25th Amendment had been invoked one other time since it was ratified in 1967. In 1985, Bush's father assumed presidential powers while President Ronald Reagan had surgery for colon cancer. Some constitutional scholars have questioned whether Reagan formally exercised the amendment. Gonzales acknowledged the debate yesterday. "I don't know whether or not President Reagan intended to invoke Section 3 of the 25th Amendment," he said. Later, he said a letter from the time had convinced him that was the case. Yesterday's transfer of power took place with a pair of two-paragraph faxes to congressional leaders. Bush signed the letters on a couch in a lounge at the Eucalyptus lodge, where he was treated. Gonzales used a golf cart to ferry them to the Willow lodge, where the Camp David communications center could record the precise transmission times. © 2002 The Washington Post Company washingtonpost.com