Laura Bush On Giving Michelle Obama A White House Tour: "I Showed Her The Closets, I Showed Her All The Things That Women Are Interested In"

First Lady Laura Bush talked for the first time about her private meeting with Michelle Obama on Monday. When asked if she shared any White House parenting advice with the future First Lady, Laura Bush responded, "Not really. I think I showed her the closets, I showed her all the things that women are interested in. But I didn't try to give her a lot of advice."

Read on for the rest of the interview with CNN:

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The role of the First Lady is certainly something that I'm sure you discussed with Mrs. Obama earlier this week. How did that visit go? And could you tell us any anecdotes?

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: Well it went great. It was very private, really. It was really much more, I think, two mothers talking about home more in this visit, because of course I showed her the rooms that are our girls' rooms now that I think are the perfect rooms for her girls when they move there.

We talked more about really making the White House a home for a family. And what I know from having lived here and from visiting my mother-in-law when she made this family a home and from reading about all the other families that have lived here is this house really can be a home. And I know that they'll make it that way for their little girls.

QUIJANO: Certainly, there must be some increased pressure, a lot of scrutiny, of course, living in the White House. I was wondering, did you share any advice with her as a mother who has been through it, having had two daughters spending some formative years?

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L. BUSH: Not really. I think I showed her the closets, I showed her all the things that women are interested in. But I didn't try to give her a lot of advice. I know she knows that she can make it home.

And that's what she wants to do.

QUIJANO: Last question then. Your husband, the day after the election, talked about it being a stirring sight to see the Obamas because of the historic nature of having the nation's first African-American president. I wonder if you could share your thoughts on that, as well?

L. BUSH: Well I also think it's very, very important. I think it's important for American history. I think it's a message to everybody in the United States of what's possible. But it's also a message around the world because I know, because I heard from them, that there were leaders in the -- around the world who didn't think the United States would elect an African-American man. And so, I think it's a really important message about our own democracy to people around the world.

QUIJANO: Mrs. Bush, thank you so much.

L. BUSH: Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot.

Comments

[nowarpleez]

She obviously doesn't know Michelle Obama. How sexist can these people be.

[truesteam]

Laura isn't sexist. She is sheltered. And THAT is a darn shame.

[PuddingPop]

Ah, give the old lady a break. I'm sure it's weird for them to be giving "the tour" to black folks:)

[Fongenie]

Hehehe.

[JulieSA]

You are the sexist. You don't know anything about Laura Bush.

[kesiac]

Please dont abuse that word. Its already been in through the ringer, and needs time to understand that it really does have meaning.

[chi01]

The things women are interested in? really? "here's the kitchen, so you can cook, here's the laundry room, here's the broom closet, and here's my favorite room, where i sit alone in the dark and rock myself to sleep."

[truesteam]

This a repeat. But, it is appropriate here, also-too.

You know, I was thinking the same thing. As if Michelle Obama would not be intrigued by the History of the joint. As if she would not want to peek into the Oval Office etc.
'No, no, no just show me where to hang up my coat so I can get to the business of baking cookies. Do you mind if I take off my shoes? Barak likes me barefoot.' I know this is harsh. But the quote hit my eyes hard.
Laura has not been my favorite FL. She did not use the power of her 'office' to better the world as much as FLs have done in the past. Also, I always got the sense she was waiting to be 'spoken to' before allowing herself to speak.
Babb's is a horrid snob. But, that woman had a voice and she used her power to seek improvement.

[LemonMeringue]

What did Barbara do again?

[Ganapati]

I imagine that in this case (continuing the sexist stereotype) it would be the shoe walk-in closet, the fur coat fridge, the spa...
I have a hard time picturing ANY first lady mopping the White House.
I wonder what is Laura referring to, what could that be?

[truesteam]

OOOOO maybe she introduced her to the gardener.

[JulieSA]

A common theme on HuffPo is what a great mother Michelle is to her adorable girls, and I admire that trait. Do you really think a mom like Michelle wouldn't be interested in seeing where her kids are gong to sleep and keep their stuff?

A crappy mom would send the servants to figure that stuff out. I think better of her. Michelle is more hands on.

[chi01]

maybe she wants to see the oval office, the back offices, the press area, maybe be a little more involved with Barack's job than just putting the kids to bed, hopefully she'll do more than just smile and stand behind her man without question. he is her president too.

[Liberoservative]

Laura Bush is a class act....

Unfortunately, she is married to a "not so class" act who pretty much resigned her to the background most of his political life....
She suffered the fate of all of the NEOCON wives....

[Adrienne Williams - Huffpost Blogger]

I like Laura she's a very nice person.

[twokidsonecat]

And I like your cute little smile Adrienne.

[postedby]

Shouldn't bloggers be able to use punctuation?

[BannedInBoston]

Yeah, let's watch those run-on sentences, Adrienne....

[Ganapati]

Ohhh I'm sure she is nice, no doubt about it.
"Nice" like the lady that everyone woman would like to have tea with, or the guy every guy would love to have a beer with.

[BannedInBoston]

More like heavily sedated.

[YellowPanties]

After you showed her the liquor cabinet and the medicine cabinet, then what did you do, Mrs Bush?

[twokidsonecat]

Oh My G........! So Funny!

[JulieSA]

To a 12-year-old.

[luvronpaul]

I've always respected Laura Bush, she is a class act.

[smilodon1]

However, she showed poor judgment by marrying Bush.

[LemonMeringue]

And very poor judgment to help him sell the war and to defend the war all the way through. She did what Karl Rove asked and for that I won't forgive her.

[Kevvboy]

This was a gracious thing she said, and interesting too, I wish the damn interviewer had followed up by asking which foreign leaders told her America wouldnt elect a black man. Silvio somebody maybe?

"But it's also a message around the world because I know, because I heard from them, that there were leaders in the -- around the world who didn't think the United States would elect an African-American man. And so, I think it's a really important message about our own democracy to people around the world."

[JulieSA]

It is an important message. Very much so.

Maybe someday the Europeans will follow in our steps and elect a person of color, or someone whose father was born in sub-saharan Africa, or turkey, or Morocco.

I don't see that happening very soon, though.

[dartagnan]

"The things women are interested in"??? Sheesh, these Republican women just don't get it, do they? "Leave It to Beaver" went off the air a long time ago.

[Georgiamitch]

I don't care how "gracious" she was...it's a total act....and I agree with your comment. Newsflash: Michele Obama isn't a stepford wife like she is..I'm sure M just was being polite back but women are interested in a variety of things...Gawd what a throwback...ba-bye bush

[JulieSA]

Oh. I thought Michelle was a good mom, who would probably like to know everything about where her kids are going to live for the next 4 years.

Now you're telling me she doesn't care about those things?

[truesteam]

You know, I was thinking the same thing. As if Michelle Obama would not be intrigued by the History of the joint. As if she would not want to peek into the Oval Office etc.
'No, no, no just show me where to hang up my coat so I can get to the business of baking cookies. Do you mind if I take off my shoes? Barak likes me barefoot.' I know this is harsh. But the quote hit my eyes hard.
Laura has not been my favorite FL. She did not use the power of her 'office' to better the world as much as FLs have done in the past. Also, I always got the sense she was waiting to be 'spoken to' before allowing herself to speak.
Babb's is a horrid snob. But, that woman had a voice and she used her power to seek improvement.

[JulieSA]

"She did not use the power of her 'office' to better the world as much as FLs have done in the past."

YOu are abjectly ignorant on that.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-parker_01edi.ART.State.Edition1.4a808e1.html

[JulieSA]

"As one who traveled last October with Mrs. Bush to the Middle East to advance the State Department's breast cancer initiative, I've been privileged to watch her in action, as well as to appreciate the life-saving results of her efforts. Largely because of her, and the breast-cancer-crusading Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, women in that harshly patriarchal part of the world have been given an empowering voice.

More importantly, women are surviving.

Before Mrs. Bush began meeting with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, 80 percent of Middle Eastern breast cancer victims died. Already, those figures are expected to drop as women relieved of shame seek earlier diagnosis and treatment.

As Mrs. Bush noted Monday, health is a freedom issue. To be free, one must first be alive. Then, one must be educated."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-parker_01edi.ART.State.Edition1.4a808e1.html

Read the whole thing, and see how Laura Bush has worked to improve the lives of women around the world.

[Indie2008]

Give her a break. She came to Michelle Obama's defense over the "proud of my country comment". I'm sure all Laura meant was that First Ladies are interested in the living quarters because they have to make living in the White House as normal as possible for their family. To not show her the house would have been rude and dismissive.

[tora]

Bet Michelle was just about half asleep while Mrs Bush was showing her the walk in closets, linen closets, dining room, the bathroom and the bar.... sigh

[Kevvboy]

Why, because she's too smart to be interested in the place she'll be living? Sheesh.

[JulieSA]

Maybe you have a butler who looks after those things, but most people like to know where everything is when they move into a new house. Only the ultra-rich have enough servants that they don't need to know these things.

[JulieSA]

"As one who traveled last October with Mrs. Bush to the Middle East to advance the State Department's breast cancer initiative, I've been privileged to watch her in action, as well as to appreciate the life-saving results of her efforts. Largely because of her, and the breast-cancer-crusading Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, women in that harshly patriarchal part of the world have been given an empowering voice.

More importantly, women are surviving.

Before Mrs. Bush began meeting with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, 80 percent of Middle Eastern breast cancer victims died. Already, those figures are expected to drop as women relieved of shame seek earlier diagnosis and treatment.

As Mrs. Bush noted Monday, health is a freedom issue. To be free, one must first be alive. Then, one must be educated."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-parker_01edi.ART.State.Edition1.4a808e1.html

Read the whole thing, and see how Laura Bush has worked to improve the lives of women around the world.

[Clare53]

Right, which makes the stuff about showing her things women are interested in even sillier.

[BabsfromKansas]

LOL!

[JulieSA]

Which proves that you're stupid enough to be fooled by a cherrypicked headline quote to denigrate livesaving work.

Sucker.

[JulieSA]

"As one who traveled last October with Mrs. Bush to the Middle East to advance the State Department's breast cancer initiative, I've been privileged to watch her in action, as well as to appreciate the life-saving results of her efforts. Largely because of her, and the breast-cancer-crusading Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, women in that harshly patriarchal part of the world have been given an empowering voice.

More importantly, women are surviving.

Before Mrs. Bush began meeting with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, 80 percent of Middle Eastern breast cancer victims died. Already, those figures are expected to drop as women relieved of shame seek earlier diagnosis and treatment.

As Mrs. Bush noted Monday, health is a freedom issue. To be free, one must first be alive. Then, one must be educated."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-parker_01edi.ART.State.Edition1.4a808e1.html

Read the whole thing, and see how Laura Bush has worked to improve the lives of women around the world.

Read the whole thing. This is only one program in which Mrs. Bush has been instrumental in improving the lives of women around the world.

[JulieSA]

Sorry about the double.

[Georgiamitch]

so as a fighter of cancer..is she still an avid smoker? gah ridiculous.

[maryellenrayofsun]

The Psychic Cocktail Hour...
Body: Hi Ya'll,
Tonight Rick Hayes will be back on my show...Rick is an author and Psychic...He is one of our most popular guests...We will probably talk a bit about Caylee Anthony, and then take some calls...but if you are one of my regular listeners then you will not be surprized at anything we say or do...
I am hoping to do a small tribute to Miriam Mekeba who died earlier this week...The world has lost another great talent...and of course, I will have to get a few digs in about Obama...
Be that as it may, the show starts at 11pm till 1am Eastern Time...The call in number is 347-324-5841...The chat room should be open...and I will be there with bells on !!!
Love and Peace, Mary Ellen

To access the show: http://www. blogtalkradio. com/maryellen

Visit The Psychic Cocktail Hour at: http://thepsychiccocktailhour. ning. com

[BabsfromKansas]

blog pi mp

[mammaboy]

Did Condi pop out.

[NoSillyName]

BOO!!

[ChucklingRedRectum]

When people ask me, "Can't you say anything nice about George Bush?"

I usually reply that his wife makes a decent first lady. She's not horrible.

[NoneyaBizniss]

Laura Bush bravely went against the tide and defended Michelle Obama during the campaign. Unlike Cindy McCain, Laura is not, nor has she ever been, mean, vicious or Rovian. I, for one, have nothing but respect for this gracious woman.