Hard to imagine our current POTUS making such an invite to Alec Baldwin<\/b>
\nIt was a kinder, gentler time \u2014 December 1992.
President George H. W. Bush, who died Friday at age 94, had just been soundly defeated by Bill Clinton in his bid for re-election.
But he extended an unexpected invitation to Dana Carvey \u2014 the comedian\/impressionist who had mocked him on an almost weekly basis on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d \u2014 to appear at the White House for a holiday party for outgoing and deeply dispirited staffers.
Also Read: George HW Bush, 41st President, Dies at 94
And so Carvey appeared in East Room, entering to the tune of \u201cHail to the Chief\u201d and addressing his audience with his spot-on Bush voice and wild hand gesticulations.
\u201cThis is a very, very strange,\u201d the Canadian-born comic soon said in his own voice, and then recalled his evening in the Lincoln bedroom the night before.
\u201cI couldn\u2019t resist getting on the phone and I called up the Secret Service as the president: \u2018I feel like going jogging tonight. In the nude,’\u201d he joked, back in Bush\u2019s voice. \u201c\u2018Fully unclothed.’\u201d
Also Read: Barbara Bush: Presidents, Politicians and Media Figures Remember Former First Lady
Unlike President Donald Trump, who bristles publicly at Alec Baldwin\u2019s impersonation of him on the current \u201cSNL,\u201d Bush seemed to take Carvey\u2019s mockery in stride.
\u201cDana has given me a lot of laughs,\u201d Bush said when he reclaimed his podium, joined by his wife, Barbara (who herself died earlier this year). \u201cAnd the fact that we can laugh at each other is a very fundamental thing.\u201d
The elder President Bush even occasionally adopted some of Carvey\u2019s Bushisms as his own in public appearances, including the memorable \u201cWouldn\u2019t be prudent at this juncture.\u201d
According to the Washington Post, Carvey was initially reluctant to make the White House appearance back in 1992. As Bush wrote in his diary, \u201cHe told me I\u2019ve tried not to cross the line of fairness. I told him I didn\u2019t think he had.\u201d<\/p>\n