President Bush traveled to New York this week to press his case at the United Nations for help reconstructing Iraq. First Lady Laura Bush accompanied the president on his trip. “Weekend Today” host Campbell Brown recently talked with Mrs. Bush and talks to her about what she thought of the reception her husband got from his audience at the United Nations, Wesley Clark and Hillary Clinton.
THE UNITED NATIONS
First Lady Laura Bush: “Well I will have to say the audience at the UN General Assembly always looks unmoved. That’s the way they look. They do politically applaud, applaud at the end of the speech but that’s what they do for every single person who speaks. The fact is that America has many, many friends who were there in that room. My husband chose to do what was hard. It was the hard thing. But he really believe that it was the right thing to do to liberate Iraq and that a free Iraq serves the whole world in a much better way.”
Campbell Brown: “It has been a difficult time for the President though. Does he come to residence ever at night and say, ‘The day I’ve had, let me tell you about it?’”
Bush: “No, not really. I mean that’s what you expect when you run for this office. You know it ain’t going to be easy.”
Brown: “He’s also more emotional than I think a lot of people realize. And when you have reports about soldiers dying, does it have an effect on him in a personal way?”
Bush: “Sure, absolutely. We went to Walter Reed on September 11 this year and met soldiers who have lost limbs in Iraq and their parents or their wives and their babies sometimes standing with them. And that’s by far the most difficult part of this. And it makes me really admire the men and women who choose to serve in the military and choose to serve their country.”
ON THE RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN
Bush: “I am ready. It gets here so fast you can’t believe it. And it doesn’t start for us I guess until the other side has a candidate. But I’ve started doing some fundraisers. I’ve traveled around the U.S. done some fundraisers for Bush-Cheney in a number of cities. I actually like it. So we’re back on the road again.”
DISAPPROVAL RATINGS
Brown: “The president, his support has dropped. His disapproval rating the first week in august was at 36 precent this week in a poll he is at 47 percent.”
Bush: “I don’t really believe that to be frank. I think a lot of those polls aren’t really accurate. What you have to focus on, and what my husband always does, is what’s best for our country and what he can do that’s the best or the most constructive way he can be president for our country. If he is reelected great, and if he isn’t, then that’s just what happens.”
ON WESLEY CLARK
Brown: “General Wesley Clark is sort of the big story now, a democrat who, in a recent poll, is ahead of President Bush. What do you think about the idea that military and foreign policy has become so important since September 11 and the war in Iraq that his strongest challenger is a military man?”
Bush: “I think my husband has shown his already what he thinks about our military and his experience and really foreign policy has ended up being the most important policy because of September 11. It’s what we’ve had to focus on — our whole country has focused on. And what’s happened in a free Afghanistan and a free Iraq is a really great start for him and I know the American people admire him for that.”
ON HILLARY CLINTON
Brown: “What do you think of Senator Hillary Clinton and the attention she is getting right now?”
Bush: “Well, I think it’s interesting the attention she is getting. I think she does a real good job for New York, I think people are proud of her here. I know she works really hard. We’ll see what happens.”
JENNA AND BARBARA
Brown: “You’ve worked very hard to keep your daughters out of the limelight and allow them to have as normal a life as possible, do you feel like you have been able to do that?”
Bush: “I do. I think they’ve had a very normal life. They are about to graduate from college. They are seniors in college. Their whole four years in college, just about, their dad has been president. But I think they’ve had a very normal life. They are lucky and very fortunate to have friends at both of their colleges where they are that give them a lot of support and let them have a normal life. And [I’m] really like any mother of a college student probably. What I think about most are my children and I long to see them.
Brown: “What are their plans graduating now? Are either of them thinking about politics?”
Bush: “No, not yet. I don’t think so. But both of them are thinking about teaching which I really like. And I think teaching is one of the most important professions and one of the professions that has the most impact. So I hope they’ll do that. Teaching is very, very rewarding. Working with children is a great way to spend your life.”