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Bush Hosts Clinton's Portrait Unveiling

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush offered a glowing tribute to former President
Clinton on Monday as the White House unveiled the official portraits of the
42nd president and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Bush rode into office on a promise "to restore honor and dignity" to the
White House after eight years of Clinton, and he was bitter at Clinton for
defeating his father in the 1992 presidential contest. But on Monday, Bush
delivered a lengthy, forceful defense of his predecessor, and welcomed
dozens of Clinton administration officials back into the White House.

"As a candidate for any office, whether it be the state attorney general or
the president, Bill Clinton showed incredible energy and great personal
appeal," Bush said. "As chief executive, he showed a deep and far- ranging
knowledge of public policy, a great compassion for people in need, and the
forward-looking spirit that Americans like in a president."

Bush left Clinton laughing so hard that his face turned red with a jibe
about Clinton's service in Texas to George McGovern's failed 1972
presidential campaign.

Mostly, though, Bush gave an almost nostalgic tribute to the Democratic
former president.

"Bill Clinton could always see a better day ahead and Americans knew he was
working hard to bring that day closer," Bush said. "Over eight years it was
clear that Bill Clinton loved the job of the presidency. He filled this
house with energy and joy. He's a man of enthusiasm and warmth, who could
make a compelling case and effectively advance the causes that drew him to
public service."

Clinton and his wife — now in the Senate — returned to the White House for
the official presentation of the portraits that will hang in the White
House. The former president's portrait will hang near the Grand Staircase
just inside the north entrance of the White House. It will bump a portrait
of the first President Bush to another position in the hall. The portrait
of Hillary Rodham Clinton, now the junior U.S. senator from New York, will
be displayed one flight below with other former first ladies.

"She inspires respect and loyalty from those who know her, and it was a
good day in both their lives when they met at the library at Yale Law
School," Bush said of Mrs. Clinton and her husband.

Clinton said: "The president, by his generous words to Hillary and me
today, has proved once again that in the end, we are held together by this
grand system of ours that permits us to debate and struggle and fight for
what we believe is right."

"And because it's free, because it is a system of majority rule and
minority rights, we're still around here after over 200 years. And most of
the time, we get it right. And I'm honored to be a small part of it."

Clinton's portrait was painted by Simmie Knox, a self-taught artist born in
1935 in Aliceville, Ala., to a family of black sharecroppers.

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