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?
Yeah.
he's done his thing..give him the honor.
cause we've lost so many to date?
