Sweet Dreams, W

WE don’t know how posterity will remember President George W. Bush, but we do know he already has an eye on history. Shortly before taking office, he told a reporter that he hoped to make his mark on his very first day in the White House. “I’m trying to set the record,” he confided, “as the president who got to bed earliest on Inauguration Day.” Bush is a man of his word: After making the rounds of parties, he was back at the official residence at 11:40, more than an hour ahead of the written schedule.

This is what it’s going to be like having a grownup in the White House. Bush, you see, shares something basic with millions of people of his generation, not to mention their parents: He cherishes a good night’s sleep. He was once a hard-drinking party animal, but upon reaching middle age he discovered the attractions of an early bedtime. Bush now makes a strict routine of retiring by 9:30 and not rising before 6; he sometimes supplements his generous nightly ration with an afternoon nap. During the campaign, he braved ridicule from Maureen Dowd for taking his pillow on his travels to assure pleasant dreams. Country singer Larry Gatlin has told of going to the Governor’s Mansion in Austin for dinner: “And at 8:30, 9 P.M., [Bush] said, ‘It’s time for y’all to go home. It’s time for me to get in my pajamas.”’

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Steve Chapman

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WE don’t know how posterity will remember President George W. Bush, but we do know he already has an eye on history. Shortly before taking office, he told a reporter that he hoped to make his mark on his very first day in the White House. “I’m trying to set the record,” he confided, “as the president who got to bed earliest on Inauguration Day.” Bush is a man of his word: After making the rounds of parties, he was back at the official residence at 11:40, more than an hour ahead of the written schedule.

This is what it’s going to be like having a grownup in the White House. Bush, you see, shares something basic with millions of people of his generation, not to mention their parents: He cherishes a good night’s sleep. He was once a hard-drinking party animal, but upon reaching middle age he discovered the attractions of an early bedtime. Bush now makes a strict routine of retiring by 9:30 and not rising before 6; he sometimes supplements his generous nightly ration with an afternoon nap. During the campaign, he braved ridicule from Maureen Dowd for taking his pillow on his travels to assure pleasant dreams. Country singer Larry Gatlin has told of going to the Governor’s Mansion in Austin for dinner: “And at 8:30, 9 P.M., [Bush] said, ‘It’s time for y’all to go home. It’s time for me to get in my pajamas.”’