Laura Bush in an interview with CNN gives her support for President Obama's speech to schoolchildren today:
"There's a place for the president of the United States to talk to school children and encourage school children" to stay in school.
"I also think it's also really important for everyone to respect the president of the United States," she said.
Now, wouldn't it be nice if more Republicans, who want to pull their party away from the abyss, we're able to be reasonable and respectful. Now she does try to temper her comments by saying essentially "both sides do it..."
Mrs. Bush also decried the extreme political partisanship in the nation.
"We're polarized. ... A lot of people on the right, a lot of people on the left. We've seen that for the last eight years. ... We're still seeing it," she said.
bur she also praised Obama, noting that as the PResident he deserves respect for doing a difficult job:
Mrs. Bush praised Obama's performance under difficult circumstances. "He's tackled a lot to start with and that's made it difficult," she said.
She said her husband has refused to criticized Obama because he believes the new president "deserves the respect and no second guessing on the part of a former president."
Which is mostly true and of course she is his wife so it's natural she would paint him in a good light.
The thing here is not so much the message itself, which of course is a good message, but the tenor and respect she gives to to Obama as well as the rational discourse she engages in.
I think it is important to have a viable opposition party, unfortunately the Republicans do not represent that. They embrace the worst aspects of our society, racist, fearful, homophobic, religious, fanaticism. The sad part is that the reasonable Republicans (They do exist, I have met them) are silent and/or marginalized.
Anyway, Laura Bush gets a thumbs up from me for her comments.