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In Praise of Laura Bush
In her quiet, unassuming way, Laura Bush has championed women's issues around the world.
In contrast to Mrs. Bush’s national public image, people in her home state of Texas have a more positive view of her, believing she has what is known locally as “spunk.” This brand of quiet, brave feminism was demonstrated to the world in 2001 when, as the first non-president to host a weekly presidential radio address, Mrs. Bush delivered a scathing condemnation of the brutal oppression of women in Afghanistan.
Mrs. Bush has continued to support the women in that region through her work with coalitions of groups who are determined to address oppression, education, and women’s health in the Middle East. She serves as the honorary chair of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, created by Presidents Bush and Karzai in 2002. The council’s goal is to promote both private and public partnerships between U.S. and Afghan institutions, and to mobilize private resources to ensure Afghan women have opportunities to gain the skills and education they were denied them under the Taliban.
To date, the council has implemented over 30 initiatives in support of Afghan women in the areas of economic empowerment, education, political participation, health, and children’s issues, totaling approximately $70 million. Fewer than a million Afghan children attended school in 2001, and all of them were boys. Today, more than six million Afghan children are enrolled in school, and a third of them are girls. Mrs. Bush is committed to continuing her advocacy for these women after President Bush leaves office by routinely meeting with students, teachers, parliamentarians, lawyers, and judges during their visits to the United States for education and training.
Laura Bush has often spoken about the importance of women’s education in countries around the world. The Ambassadors Girls Scholarship Program, part of the president’s Africa Education Initiative, has awarded 375,000 scholarships in 40 countries, totaling $46 million. These funds are used to support girls in both primary and secondary school, allowing them to develop into educated members of their societies. During five visits to Africa, Mrs. Bush has met with many recipients of the Ambassadors Girls Scholarship Program. These girls, as the future of women’s leadership in the region, will play positive roles in the education, political, and economic sectors of their countries.
First Lady Laura Bush should be saluted for her efforts on behalf of women and children around the world.
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Thia Lawson a co-founder at The New Agenda, a non-partisan women's group.
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40 Comments
1. Jo:Laura Bush should have a very interesting story to tell and I, for one, am looking forward to reading it! The eight years that George W. Bush served were filled with very important events.
Jan 4, 2009 - 4:46 am 2. seven:Mrs. Bush accomplished quite a bit and is very well respected out here in the “real world”.
It looks like First Lady Bush’s only shortcoming is not working the camera and the media.
Jan 4, 2009 - 6:33 am 3. AnninCA:The next regime, Michelle (a disbarred Illinois Lawyer) won’t do anything without working the media.
My Pastor says we are not only to do good for those that can’t pay you back, but to do it with no publicity payback also.
School and education issues by Ayers and Obama were only to push a socialist agenda. They couldn’t care less about the kids or poor housing.
Laura Bush is nice, and she’s done her share as first lady. However, I wouldn’t say she’s a role model in this arena.
Jan 4, 2009 - 8:45 am 4. Войска ПВО:seven: I agree. We’ll most likely miss her quiet, unassuming dignity.
Also, thanks for the tip on Michelle Obama’s disbarrment in 1993. (A.K.A., “Distinguished Attorney” by the sycophantic media.) Why does it not surprise? I imagine we’ll have a lot of these turdlets floating to to top of the punch bowl in the coming four years.
Jan 4, 2009 - 9:23 am 5. Steph:I too am an admirer of Laura Bush. Her good works are largely unknown, I believe, because she wasn’t loud and abrasive enough, and the media loves to report controversy. E.g., Michelle Obama’s condescending crack that it was “the first time she was proud of America” during the early part of her husband’s campaign. I also don’t think Mrs. Bush is comfortable in public and has only become a public figure because of her role as first lady. But when I have heard her speak her words have been wise, and I think her book will tell us a lot we didn’t know about her husband that will make it less easy to mindlessly demonize him. Having said this, let it be known that I am a Democrat, and that I have disagreed with nearly all of his policy decisions.
Jan 4, 2009 - 10:43 am 6. Anna:Thank you to Pajamas Media for printing this wonderful piece about Laura Bush. The msm has largely ignored her and it is refreshing to read about a conservative woman who has gone about the work of doing good in the world. It is around something like this that many of us, men and women, liberals and conservatives, can come together to set aside these divisive splits among us to see the bigger picture: that of giving of oneself for the greater good. Thank you Ms. Lawson for your beautiful piece.
Jan 4, 2009 - 12:48 pm 7. WNE:Good to see this article detailing Ms. Bush’s notable achievements over the last eight (and more) years.
With the MSM and a lot of the not-so-MSM trashing women left and right over the last year, it’s great to have a posting of at least one woman’s accomplishment without the usual sneering and macho posturing.
Jan 4, 2009 - 12:57 pm 8. cedarford:Войска ПВО:
seven: I agree. We’ll most likely miss her quiet, unassuming dignity.
Yep, another Pat Nixon….Bland, plastic, forgettable, not too bright.
Also, thanks for the tip on Michelle Obama’s disbarrment in 1993.
Your link doesn’t work. A good thing, since you are just spewing Right Wing crap. If she was disbarred, it would have been part of the campaign, since formal disbarments and other lesser Bar penalties imposed on attorneys are public record.
Jan 4, 2009 - 1:08 pm 9. NahnCee:Michelle Obama let her Bar membership lapse..as she became a Daley Machine apparachnik then a “diversity executive” in a series of cushy sinecure jobs through the auspices of Jarrett, Chicago Dems, and the patronage of the billionaire Pritzker, Klutznik, and Crown Families that run the U of Chicago Board of Trustees.
When every angry black female on a reality show is referred to as a “lady”, it’s sometimes difficult to remember what the original meaning of the word was. To be a lady meant you always tried to make the other person feel comfortable, you didn’t try to steal the limelight especially at the other person’s expense. Miss Manners, being cute, defines her as “someone who wants to punch someone else in the nose, but doesn’t.”
Being a lady, to a large extent, meant restraining yourself, trying to do the Right Thing, and not popping off loudly. Certainly a lady would ever, ever demonstrate what sort of underwear (if any) she was wearing.
Being a lady is hard work in and of itself, let alone redecorating the White House or planting thousands of wild flowers or starting rehab clinics.
I think Laura Bush has been the most admirable First Lady I’ve ever observed. When I get annoyed by some stupid thing that George has done or not done, it’s helpful to remember that with Laura there at his elbow, it can’t be *that* stupid or she wouldn’t have allowed it. And that if George Bush is a good enough man for Laura to stay married to, then he must be a pretty damned good man.
It would be an honor and a privilege to meet Laura Bush, but I have a feeling that as a disciplined and experienced lady, she will be leading a life of quiet retirement in Texas, lending her name to various good works and just trying to be a good human being.
You go, Laura girl!
Jan 4, 2009 - 1:14 pm 10. NahnCee:When every angry screaming female on a reality show is referred to as a “lady”, it’s sometimes difficult to remember what the original meaning of the word was. To be a lady meant you always tried to make the other person feel comfortable, you didn’t try to steal the limelight especially at the other person’s expense. Miss Manners, being cute, defines her as “someone who wants to punch someone else in the nose, but doesn’t.”
Being a lady, to a large extent, meant restraining yourself, trying to do the Right Thing, and not popping off loudly. Certainly a lady would ever, ever demonstrate what sort of underwear (if any) she was wearing.
Being a lady is hard work in and of itself, let alone redecorating the White House or planting thousands of wild flowers or starting rehab clinics.
I think Laura Bush has been the most admirable First Lady I’ve ever observed. When I get annoyed by some stupid thing that George has done or not done, it’s helpful to remember that with Laura there at his elbow, it can’t be *that* stupid or she wouldn’t have allowed it. And that if George Bush is a good enough man for Laura to stay married to, then he must be a pretty damned good man.
It would be an honor and a privilege to meet Laura Bush, but I have a feeling that as a disciplined and experienced lady, she will be leading a life of quiet retirement in Texas, lending her name to various good works and just trying to be a good human being.
You go, Laura girl!
Jan 4, 2009 - 1:16 pm 11. fsteele:I’m glad to see feminists giving credit where it is due — to Laura Bush for advocating for women — rather than restricting themselves to … shall I say dictating policy stances?
I’m a PUMA, but Sarah Palin is right up there with HIllary as a feminist. Laura Bush may not be that high on the scale, but it sounds like she is worth some credit too.
Jan 4, 2009 - 1:46 pm 12. fsteele:Just to be annoyingly fair, what’s this about Michelle Obama being ‘disbarred’? She let her license lapse for some reason (not uncommon among lawyers who later took other jobs), but ‘disbarrment’ would mean that she was expelled, which I’ve heard no other claims of.
Jan 4, 2009 - 1:48 pm 13. susan:disbarred means that she didn’t pass the final exams to become a full lawyer or something like that, I don’t know how your process works but it was written here some blogs ago. Of course it’s stuff that media don’t write. Also her over-valued job at the hospital wasn’t worth that much, not to mention the immense pay raise she got solely on the base of her husband becoming a senator and opening up floods of money.
Laura Bush didn’t use her husband’s role to push her carreer, and she hasn’t been a housewife all her life. SAme went for Nancy Reagan, and the same would have been for Cindy McCain. And the same goes, ironically for Todd Palin.
The same grace didn’t come from hillary clinton and won’t come from michelle obama. Those are power hungry looking for a spotlight on their own.
I cringe at the idea that not only for 4 years I will have to avoid at all costs images of him on TV, but also her pathetic interviews where she plays a not-credible desperate houswife
Jan 4, 2009 - 2:30 pm 14. Anna:I find it regretable that this lovely piece on Laura Bush should inspire posts that express black and white notions of liberals and conservatives. Why must we idealize/demonize? Is there no flawed, human truth to be found?
Jan 4, 2009 - 2:52 pm 15. Ceela:I love Laura Bush and I am thrilled to have some of her accomplishments finally highlighted, especially all the work she has done for women. However, I don’t think she would condone trash talking other First Ladies in comparison to her. I think she would find that tacky and not at all in keeping with the tone she has tried to set as First Lady. All of our First Ladies have taken a different approach to that role. Why not try to find the good in all of them? I’m sick of the partisan attitude of the last eight years and all of the knee jerk bashing. And now that the shoe is on the other foot, I pray that we won’t continue the personal attacks and pettiness that we have found so disgusting and unfair in others.
Jan 4, 2009 - 3:21 pm 16. NahnCee:Disbarred means you did very bad thing and were voted out. It’s the same thing as a doctor having his/her license yanked because of malpractice. Lady MacBama *did* practice as an attorney, therefore at one point she had to have passed the bar to be an attorney. I suppose she could have allowed her license to lapse, but I’ve never heard of an attorney doing except one gentleman I know who allowed his license to lapse due to age and creeping blindness. You also have to pass the bar exam in each state, I believe, so if she had a license in Illinois, that wouldn’t mean that she could practice law in New York or DC.
Jan 4, 2009 - 3:46 pm 17. Amy Siskind:Thia,
It is so wonderful to see women of all political stripes celebrated. Thank you for writing this. The way forward for the woman of this country is to work together, regardless of party or view on choice.
Please join us at The New Agenda (www.thenewagenda.net)
Jan 4, 2009 - 4:20 pm 18. Webutante:Behind every good man is a good and often quiet, unassuming woman. Thanks for point this out.
Jan 4, 2009 - 4:22 pm 19. Boris:Laura Bush has been a very classy, poised First Lady, and has represented America well for the last 8 years. Now, we will have to listen to another activist, left-winger impose her views on us every time she gets the chance
Jan 4, 2009 - 4:23 pm 20. Roark:Excuse me, but on a trip to the middle east Mrs. Bush had the shameful audacity to wear a burqa, the symbol of female oppression in islam. So, instead of standing up to this type of animalistic behavior all she did was embolden it by donning one herself. I cannot give her unwarrented accolades as this articles does.
Jan 4, 2009 - 4:32 pm 21. Ceela:Roark,
Actually it was a scarf with pink edging on it given to her as a gift by the women she was visiting for breast cancer awareness. Nancy Pelosi, Condi Rice, and all the women I know of who visit there wear a similar scarf. She was in the difficult position of being polite to the women hosting her and giving her a gift, or being rude to them in order to make a political statement. Since the point of her trip was breast cancer awareness I think she made the diplomatic choice.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,305736,00.html
“And they saw this as giving me a gift from their culture. And it was the scarf with the pink ribbons and the pink edging on it, the breast cancer scarf, that I put on.”
Jan 4, 2009 - 5:22 pm 22. WheresTheLine?:We all have different gifts. Thanks, Thia, for using your gift of words to celebrate Laura’s use of her gifts.
Jan 4, 2009 - 8:28 pm 23. Glynn:Roark, it seems anyone can find reason for be insulted. The Burqa is hardly a symbol of oppression. Ritual killing of women by their fathers and other male relatives and female castration are symptoms of oppression. I lived in the Middle East. All women cover their heads. It’s pretty much the law, and a symbol of respect. Laura Bush has been a fine example of what being a First Lady is all about, classy, smart, and compassionate. A true role model.
Jan 4, 2009 - 8:54 pm 24. CrossPatch:When will intelligent, accomplished women ever be recognized for their talents? It has been written that Hillary only rode on her husband’s coattails. But it looks to me like both Hillary and Laura Bush are both a lot smarter than their husbands and could have accomplished plenty more without husbands dragging them down.
Thanks for the story on Laura Bush. She is quiet and unassuming, but smart and tough nevertheless. I admire her, even though I do not agree with her husband on anything.
Jan 4, 2009 - 9:12 pm 25. Cienfuegos:Era una primera mujer absolutamente dignificada, muy bien educada y ademas sympatica. We never know what we have, until we lose it. I have already been missing President Bush and this refined and dignified First Lady for months, anticipating their leaving us. Nothing but respect and gratitude from this humble American. God bless America — que Dios nos quida.
Jan 4, 2009 - 9:23 pm 26. Danny:I say if we lose the tragedy that is President Bush, then I won’t miss Laura that much.
Jan 4, 2009 - 11:33 pm 27. Ann:Laura Bush’s grace and beauty will be missed.
Jan 5, 2009 - 5:13 am 28. Войска ПВО:cedarford, the link is here. I will concede that perpetrators of this rumor must go considerably further to substantiate it. But, like the birth certificate question and the other items that Barak Obama chooses to remain mute on, this could have been dismissed with a simple and truthful explanation.
While it does not rise to the level of the validity of BO’s birth, it only adds to the “mystery”.
I dunno, cedarford, maybe you like your president, senators, and representatives to come steeped in the steaming garbage of Chicago machine politics, but I sure don’t. I freely admit that Obama has to go a long way to prove that he is not and not ebing forthcoming isn’t even going to convince me of this man’s honesty.
I also freely admit that, while not a reasonable position, I find Michelle Obama annoying and do not look forward to the hectoring she will probably do when she attains the exalted position of First Lady. I think that was more of less the point of this article: most who posted here will miss Laura Bush more than we know when M.O. and B.O. take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania.
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:09 pm 29. Mark:Laura Bush is great. I had no idea what all she had done. Very proud!
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:15 pm 30. Anna:To poster #28
I don’t know if the point of this piece was to compare Laura Bush to past or future First Lady’s. I think the point was simply to present a beautiful piece that honors Laura Bush’s accomplishments during her tenure as First Lady. I saw nothing in the piece that suggests its intentions to also make a dig at anyone. That was one aspect of the piece I found very refreshing. Ms. Lawson managed to educate those who may not have been aware of the First Lady’s accomplishments and honor the First Lady without any need to denegrate another in the process.
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:47 pm 31. vivo:Laura Bush didn’t accomplish much and didn’t face the public because she had to live with all the lies and crimes being committed around her. She couldn’t bear to add more lies and that is respectable. She carries a heavy burden.
Jan 6, 2009 - 4:41 am 32. susan:yes vivo, nothing compares with the ugly new first lady who is ashamed of her country. Well, I cannot blame her, I would be ashamed of people like you too.
Jan 6, 2009 - 7:42 am 33. linders:Vivo,
You clearly didn’t even read the article and you are so partisan it’s boring.
I’m proud of Laura Bush. She accomplished some great things with dignity and grace. Thanks for writing such a nice article.
Jan 6, 2009 - 2:09 pm 34. vivo:32. susan:
“yes vivo, nothing compares with the ugly new first lady who is ashamed of her country. ”
Ugly is beautiful. Live with it. Many people are ashamed of the USA for the past 8 years. Ask the rest of the World. Why do you think we elected Obama? It’s time to erase the shame.
Jan 7, 2009 - 3:54 am 35. susan:well the people ashamed of the usa shouldn’t be taking money from tax payers through government jobs. But you don’t have idea of what dignity means because you don’t have it even for yourself
i am part of the rest of the world, and the now on the conservative side europe is very ashamed that the greatest democracy of the world elected a black man only for white guilt. You cannot read any other language beside english, therefore you have no idea of what is written on the other side of the atlantic.
So keep your change and keep the shame. You are even more ridiculous than before. Your lack of intelligence is so evident that you think that “european opinion” is what some communist newspapers here write. Press is 90% communist like in your country. This is explained in a nutshell, but you write and behave like a 4 year old spoiled brat who doesn’t understand the basic 101 of simple logic, so you are entirely unable to have a functioning brain.
People here have already forgotten your american idol election. Nobody was cheering in the streets, but you stupid obamatrons thought so. What a bunch of deluded individuals.
The rest of the world that is laughing at you is venezuela, iran, castro, because usa will be weakened by obama, but you are far too stupid to understand it.
Far too stupid. I bet you are the child that gets routinely beaten up at school.
Jan 7, 2009 - 9:24 am 36. deguello:Laura Bush deserves praise for avoiding her husband’s attempts to pimp her out to Vicente Fox, the way he pimped the US to the Mexican plutocracy.
Jan 7, 2009 - 9:46 am 37. vivo:35. susan:
Your ranting is that of a brain gone haywire. Pobrecita, la chava esta más loca que una cabra. No sabe lo que dice. I bet Ann Coulter is related to you. I don’t see your fellow think-alikes referring to you: they don’t want to be embarrassed by your craziness and lack of common sense.
Jan 7, 2009 - 10:27 pm 38. Maddie:I went hunting for Laura Bush’s accomplishments these last 8 years and came up with only this site. It is obvious that she was a real lightweight as I had assumed, since I only saw several camera moments…such as the misguided approach in Afghanistan which only highlighted how insensitive the Bush administration was to local and Muslim custom. A mere mouthpiece without followup. What a shame.
Jan 28, 2009 - 2:22 pm 39. Maddie:If you haven’t been ashamed of this country at various times, you haven’t been paying attention. “My country right or wrong” is what got Germany into such trouble…remember? Raceism is shameful; and the First Lady certainly saw her share as have all black people…and should have been…and was…ashamed. How immature to pretend you didn’t recognize her meaning and its validity.
Jan 28, 2009 - 2:27 pm 40. Maddie:HHHmmm promoting literacy – doesn’t that “start at home?”
Jan 28, 2009 - 2:30 pm