Monday, October 29, 2007

Laura Bush: Cafeteria Lady

First Lady Laura Bush said Sunday that she is much more involved in policy than many people think and then went to bat for her husband on children’s health care and foreign policy.

Calling the state children’s health insurance program (SCHIP) “a perfect issue” for Democrats to demagogue on, Bush waded into largely uncharted public territory for her by taking exception to the party that opposes the president.

The first lady appeared genuinely upset about the Democrats’ tactics on the issue.

“It’s really easy to blame people for so-called voting against children,” Bush said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. The first lady went on to say that the bill would cover children who are not poor and added that the program is often used to cover adults.

“The president is very anxious to work with Congress and to come up with something that both he and they can be proud of,” she said.

Bush also insisted the perception of her staying out of her husband’s policies is false.

“The fact is I’ve been involved for a long time in policy, and I think I just didn’t get a lot of coverage on it,” Bush said. “I was stereotyped as being a certain way because I was a librarian and a teacher…which are considered traditional women’s careers.”

Bush has been most involved with foreign policy in Africa and Burma. She said African women recently told her daughter Barbara that the president saved their lives.

She sidestepped a question about whether she weighs in on the president’s policies toward Iraq and Iran, shifting the focus back to Africa and Burma.