The Boomer-in-Chief Nears a Milestone: The Big 6-0

At home, Bush's presidency has been dominated by the generational issues of Medicare and Social Security. He pushed through the biggest expansion of Medicare but failed to revamp Social Security to give younger workers the choice of investing payroll taxes. Now when he mentions his birthday, he often does so in the context of fixing entitlement programs.

"This year the first of about 78 million baby boomers turn 60, including two of my dad's favorite people -- me and President Clinton," Bush told Congress in his State of the Union address in January. "This milestone is more than a personal crisis. It is a national challenge."

As he notes, boomers will live longer than their parents did, with fewer workers paying into the system to support them. "There's a lot of folks like me being promised greater benefits, who are living longer," he told a West Virginia audience in March. "I don't know how the other 60-year-olds -- how long they plan to live. I plan on kind of stretching her out, you know?"

Boomer birthdays will keep the issue in the forefront. "That plays into politics because you've got this whole generation that has not really thought about a lot of these issues until now," said John Rother, policy director at AARP, a third of whose 35 million members are younger than 60. "The more people you have hitting 60, you'll see more discussion of retirement, health care, that sort of thing."

On a personal level, Bush has spent much of his presidency fighting the advance of age with discipline. He wakes at 5:30 a.m., arrives at the Oval Office around 7 and calls it a day around 5:30 or 6 p.m. when he's in Washington. He exercises ferociously with a mountain bike, treadmill and free-weight resistance training. Yesterday, he biked for 2 1/2 hours at a Secret Service training facility in Beltsville. With a resting pulse rate of 47 beats per minute, a cholesterol count of 178 and a body fat percentage of 15.79, he remains in "superior" shape, according to his latest medical checkup.

The approach of Bush's big day has been met with none of the hoopla that surrounded his predecessor's 50th birthday, an earlier mile marker in the boomer generation's passage through life. When Bill Clinton reached the half-century mark in 1996, he was feted at a Radio City Music Hall gala broadcast by satellite to more than 80 locations, complete with performances by Jon Bon Jovi, Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon and master of ceremonies Whoopi Goldberg, among others.

Not to be outdone, Hillary Rodham Clinton's friends a year later celebrated her 50th with a surprise party 50 days before the actual day, followed by gag gifts each successive day. All that culminated with a hometown bus tour, a panel discussion and a swank fete in Chicago with a 300-pound, 6-foot-high pumpkin spice cake.

If Bush's friends are planning anything that extravagant, they are keeping it secret better than a trip to Baghdad. "Really?" asked Bradford M. Freeman, a longtime Bush friend, when told the president's 60th birthday was approaching. "I should do something. Get a card or something."

Cheney was asked at a ceremony last week what he planned to give Bush for his birthday. "Maybe a shotgun?" someone in the audience suggested, provoking laughter.

"He's got one already," Cheney replied. But the vice president didn't seem to have anything else in mind.

"We usually don't exchange birthday presents. We exchange Christmas presents. And I'd have to give serious thought. It's probably -- it's one of those things that need to be secret."

Aides said Bush will celebrate as he usually does, with a party in the White House on the Fourth of July attended by old friends and close aides. "They're just real low-key," said Susan Whitson, the first lady's spokeswoman. "They're just going to be with some close friends."

Still, he has a fun boomer outing this week before the big day. He plans to take Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, an avid Elvis Presley fan, to visit Graceland.