W's Dad, no slouch himself, speaks at Insignia breakfast

Real Estate Weekly, May 2, 2001 by Parke Chapman

Former president George Bush was keynote speaker at Insignia's latest market forecast breakfast at the Marriott Marquis, Times Square.

Bush garnered two standing ovations from the crowd, and deservedly so -- his jocular approach was a departure from the canned speech genre where even high doses of caffeine are rendered useless against fatigue.

His glib one-liners and anecdotes brought laughter from the crowd, and for an early morning event on a Friday, the liveliness of the breakfast resembled that of a post-cocktail hour soiree.

"I don't know a damned thing about New York City real estate," announced Bush, immediately after securing the dais. The tone was set by this remark and -- during his speech -- the momentum (both blase and informed) was maintained.

In the Bush household, he is known as "# 41" while his son is "#43." He appeared to revel in his status as a private citizen, quipping that he can now "dodge questions" from the press and, at one point, remarking that he "doesn't do issues anymore." His candor was disarming, with an edge.

"I don't like the national press. In fact, I used to be a member of PBA," said Bush, which means "Press Bashers Anonymous."

Comedy aside, his speech did touch on a few serious issues such as free trade, the spy plane incident, and the Middle Eastern situation. The subject of real estate did came up briefly when he said he hoped "number 43" abolishes the estate tax.

If there was one overriding theme in his talk, it was staying optimistic in these doom & gloom economic times. He termed the economic adjustment "maybe overdue," while crediting the Federal Reserve's lowering of interest rates "a reason for optimism."

Since his tenure as president, Bush said that "the world has changed in pro found ways" yet the free market model is still the answer.

Though he claimed little expertise in commercial real estate, Bush admitted to having inhabited thirty homes in his life time.

"Then I suppose you could say I know a thing or two about real estate, then," he said.

Bush, who turns 77 in June, avoided discussing his son the president at length. He did call himself a "proud father," though. On that note, he said that the Florida polling debacle was a difficult time for him since "my son was unfairly criticized."

"It's like your child coming home from school with their grades, expecting to get straight A's," said Bush, who has 14 grandchildren. "But they open the report card and there are B's and C's in it."

Bush gave Democrats a playful jab near the end of his speech with the following joke: "John F. Kennedy was addressing a crowd of stock brokers and he said, 'if I weren't president now, I'd be buying stocks.' A man in the back of the room turned to the man next to him and said 'if he weren't president now, I'd be buying stocks!'"

Prior to Bush's speech, a senior economist from J.P Morgan addressed the crowd in a manner befitting Ross Perot. Charts and bar graphs behind him, James Glassman spoke of "fiscal powder" and other economic indicators. With bravado, Glassman identified several strong points in this economy, rhetorically asking the crowd if things were in fact so dire.

In total, the gist of Glassman and Bush's speech was tonic. Both forecasts prescribed that the real estate industry relax. Everyone is still on edge trying to figure out what is on the horizon. Insignia saw to that, and gave binoculars away as parting gifts.