The success of a president's "honeymoon" (the traditional period of good relations between a new president and both Congress and the public) is determined by his rhetoric, not his actions. Central to the rhetoric task facing a new president are differentiating himself and his policies from his predecessor and creating a "vision" that encompasses his goals for his term of office. Judging from an analysis of press coverage of his first 3 months in office, George Bush was relatively successful with the first of these goals, but failed, by most accounts, at the second. Mixed press responses may have resulted in the public's tentative assessment of Bush by the end of his honeymoon period. (Thirty-two notes are included.) (Author/SG)