Though the First Lady keeps a full schedule promoting her signature issues–education and literacy–she prefers to maintain a low profile, leaving her husband at the United Nations while she slips out for a private dress fitting with designer Carolina Hererra. But when prodded onto the world stage, Mrs. Bush revealed deft political skills. She strongly defended the U.S.-led war in Iraq before a multinational audience in Paris and advocated the “freedom to write and read what we want” at a book festival in Moscow.
Mrs. Bush’s aides complained that the president’s strategists back home didn’t seem to acknowledge her warm reception abroad. “We never hear from them,” said one East Wing aide. “That’s what’s so frustrating.” But with the First Lady’s high approval ratings holding steady, the West Wing may soon take notice. Mrs. Bush has already expressed a desire to visit both Afghanistan and Iraq–areas where her husband could use a dose of good press. Next stop: Baghdad?
