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American Morning

Bush Hosts Yankees at White House

Aired May 04, 2001 - 11:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: To the White House now, where there is no doubting the fact that our new president is a genuine sports fan. George W. Bush demonstrated his fondness for sports once again today, holding another White House gathering in honor of athletes.

Jeanne Meserve joins us now with an update on that -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Stephen, we've been look at the style of President Bush today, but no portrait of this president would be complete without looking at his passion for sport. His affection for baseball is public; he once owned the Texas Rangers team; and when Milwaukee opened up a new ballpark this April, the president was there.

His love of big league ball was evident at today's ceremony honoring last year's World Series champs, the New York Yankees. He reminded the world champs that the White House will host a T-ball game this weekend for small children, and he took the opportunity to deliver a serious message to the Yanks and all professional athletes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What's going to be interesting about that day is there's going to be some little kid trying to adjust his batting gloves just like Jeter does, or somebody trying to look like Mario Rivera, or somebody trying to emulate the swing of Tino Martinez. That's what' going to happen. And as a reminder to those who are on the field, that a lot of kids look at you; they really do. And there's a lot of parents pulling for the Yanks to be champs not only on the field, but off the field. And there's no question in my mind that these Yanks will rise to both occasions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: The president also took time today to salute the Air Force Academy for winning the football rivalry among the three service academies. He presented the Commander in Chief's Trophy to coach James DeBerry, who has been on the receiving end of this presentation 12 times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: President's come and go, but coaches do not have term limits. Coach, a word of caution...

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: Winning this trophy is supposed to be a struggle, not a hobby. And the truth is, if you spend any more time in Washington, the folks back in Colorado Springs are going to start saying you're out of touch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: In sports terms, it is the first inning of the Bush presidency, but so far he is clearly enjoying the game -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: He enjoys the game, and he enjoys using that metaphor when it comes to policymaking and politics, too, Jeanne.

MESERVE: It (sic) does. You know, I was talking to Hugh Sidey about this last hour. He's with "TIME" magazine, has studied presidents since Dwight Eisenhower. And was saying that, given the importance of sports in this society, it's probably quite wise politically for a president to draw the connection between sports and the White House.

But he also said that there's sort of a natural affinity between athletes and politicians because there are scores in both contests -- there are winners, there and losers. And so he thinks there are some real similarities in the games being...

(AUDIO AND VIDEO GAP)

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