I'm not sure if Bush The First's Naval service was much of a factor in this decision. It has become a recent tradition to name new carriers after a former president. Lincoln, Truman, and Reagan were never in the Navy, but have carriers named for them. Jimmy Carter had a submarine named for him specifically because he was a sub officer, but I think Bush would have had a carrier named after him even if he hadn't been in the Navy. It's just a bonus that he was.
One thing I wonder about, though. It is tradition for US Navy ships to have a motto that is related to the ship's namesake. It's also something that should have relevance for the crew of the ship. Some presidential carrier examples:
USS Abraham Lincoln - 'Shall Not Perish'
USS George Washington - 'Spirit of Freedom'
USS Harry S Truman - 'The Buck Stops Here'
USS Ronald Reagan - 'Peace Through Strength'
I started wondering what inspirational motto could possibly be associated with Bush. I did a Google search and came up with this site (
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/batgru-77.htm) showing a CVN-77 patch with the saying 'Transition to the Future; Modernize the Past' on it, but I don't think it's the real patch for the ship since they are usually much more detailed than just the ship's number over a map of the world. So, since this is probably not the real patch, it may also not be the real motto. I certainly hope it isn't, since that mouthful will hardly create pride and inspiration in a crew.
Really, what could it be? What should it be? 'Read My Lips'? 'A Thousand Points of Light'? 'VooDoo Economics?