Laura Bush ‘Shocked’ at Initial Barbara Bush Hesitancy to Support Jeb Bush’s White House Bid
The former first lady is interviewed on "This Week"
— -- Former First Lady Laura Bush said she was completely taken aback when her mother-in-law Barbara Bush expressed disapproval – before eventually reversing her position – about a potential run for the presidency by her son, Jeb Bush, saying at the time that the country had had “enough Bushes" in the White House.
“I was shocked,” Bush told ABC’s Jonathan Karl during an interview Wednesday, adding that she disagreed with the Bush family matriarch’s comments in 2013, but also making clear that she had no intention of making her aware of that fact.
“Do you think I would tell my mother-in-law something?” she said with a smile.
Bush, the wife of former President George W. Bush, expressed support for her brother-in-law Jeb’s likely candidacy in the upcoming presidential election and sharply disagreed with the position of one of his Republicans rivals.
Sen. Rand Paul, who announced his presidential campaign last week, has called for eliminating all U.S. foreign aid. Bush told ABC News doing that would be both impractical and immoral.
“I think that's not really realistic, for one thing. We're a very wealthy nation. We're a blessed nation and I think it's morally improper for us not to save lives if we can,” she said.
During her several trips to Africa, the former first lady has established herself as a strong proponent of women’s rights through the Bush Institute in Dallas. One of her newer initiatives is to teach first women around the world how to empower other women and children in their countries.
As first lady, she helped promote PEPFAR, the global emergency plan for AIDS relief, an initiative created under her husband to combat the disease.
Bush, who called working with current First Lady Michelle Obama "great,” said she was not sure if the well-known friendship that has developed between former President Clinton and former President's George and George W. Bush could survive as a potential Bush-Clinton faceoff looms large over the current political landscape.
“We’ll see,” she said.