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Skriven 2006-04-12 23:36:10 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0604123) for Wed, 2006 Apr 12
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Interview of First Lady Laura Bush by KOSA-TV
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For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
April 12, 2006

Interview of First Lady Laura Bush by KOSA-TV
George W. Bush Childhood Home
Midland, Texas



April 11, 2006

11:03 A.M. CDT

Q I'm going to start right off the bat, you were talking about the room and
what they did. I mean, it's back to its original state.

MRS. BUSH: Well, I'm so proud of the group that put this house together,
this darling little house museum is really what it is. I hope people all
over the Permian Basin will come see it.

I saw it right after the realtors in Midland bought it, to give it to --
make it a little house museum. And it was very different then because, of
course, it had been painted over and redone and added on to over the years.
So the house curator, somebody who does this for a living, worked very hard
with all the Midland people who are working on the house.

They stripped the old paneling, so now you can see what it looked like when
it was here. And when they stripped it, they could find the outline of
these built-ins on the wall, so these are exactly the way they would have
been. And you can see why President Bush and Barbara would have picked this
house in 1951, such a darling house and such a perfect room for a little
boy.

Q And durable, it's very durable.

MRS. BUSH: It's a very durable little house. And when they moved here they
had George and his sister, Robin. And then while they lived here, Robin
died of leukemia. And then they had Jebbie, baby Jebbie, who is now the
governor of Florida.

So everything in here is as authentic as they could make it be. One of my
friends who actually has worked on it and does this for a business, Dealey
Herndon, from Austin, told me she found some old toys at an antique store
and she called the woman who really does the curating of the house and
said, oh, I found this toy. And she said, "No, no, that's two years too
late."

So all of these toys are actually toys that a little boy would have had
between 1951 and 1954.

And then in the kitchen they went down to the old wallpapers and found the
bottom wallpaper, which would have been the one that Barbara Bush had while
she lived here. So they were able to reproduce it. Actually, they bought a
wallpaper from a period wallpaper collection that would have been in 1950s
-- green ivy lattice, and that's what is in the kitchen. So it's really
very fun to get to see it. And I'm so proud of what a good job they did and
how really authentic everything is.

So I hope a lot of people will come tour the house. You can tour it today,
but every day, it will be open every day except Mondays. It will be open on
Sunday afternoons and then Tuesday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. until
5:00 p.m., and you get a ticket across the street at the little visitors
center, and then come tour the house.

Q Talking about Midland, if you were to close your eyes or if someone
mentioned Midland, what is your first thought?

MRS. BUSH: You know, I have to always think of the big sky and really the
way Midland is, the way it feels, the hot, sort of dry weather, the sound
of the cicadas in the summer. George and I moved back here -- he moved back
in 1975, and then I moved back in 1977, when we married. We had our babies
while we lived here.

For all those first couple of years that I pushed them in a stroller, I
strolled them around really not very far from this house. We lived over on
Golf Course Road, and then on Harvard, so in a very similar neighborhood. I
took my babies on a walk every day in the stroller. And the way Midland
was, the way it sounded, the way the afternoons felt with the heat and the
cicadas really made me so nostalgic even then, in those years, that I had
them here.

So I think when you grow up out here you can see a long way for sure, and I
think it really gives you an idea of, like Midland's old motto, "the sky is
the limit." And I miss that about Midland.

Q Now, I'm someone who comes to you and says, you know, I've been
transferred, I'm going to move to Midland -- what would you tell me?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I would tell you that the best people in the world live
here and that they're very, very friendly and that they'll reach out to
you. The people here have a strong character. The people are religious,
they like to go to their churches. They spend a lot of time and a lot of
work either with their churches or with missions that their churches do.

There are also many amenities that Midland has that most towns this size
don't have. There is a very active community theater. President Bush --
George's dad, President Bush -- Number 41, as we call him -- was very
active in the development of the community theater when Art Cole started
the community theater back out in the '50s in Midland. There is a very nice
museum of the southwest. There are many amenities, the Midland Symphony,
that most cities this size wouldn't have. So I would tell you that there is
that, besides being great people.

And then I know, for instance, my staff who flew with me yesterday and have
never been to West Texas, so as we got ready to land I said, look out the
window and you'll see a part of the country where there are no native
trees. And I could tell they were slightly taken aback. But once you live
out here, the huge sky becomes the most predominant part of being outside;
and the very, very best part, the sunrises and the sunsets. So that's what
I would tell somebody who's about to move here.

Q On that related note, what part of West Texas -- we like to think that
we're a different breed out here. That being the case, what part of West
Texas would you and your husband take not only to Austin, but to the White
House? What part of you and he are up there now?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I would say that the values that are most important out
here are the values that have been important to us our whole lives and
still are. And that is that strength of character -- and you're right,
there is something about growing up where there aren't any trees and
there's no shade and the sky is so big that really does -- and the
landscape is so unforgiving, the heat is so much in the summer, and the
northers in the winter can be quite cold -- but I think it really does give
people out here a strength of character that not everyone has, but people
here do have.

I also -- because of that, I think that people are not pretentious. They
don't try to be pretentious, they're not snobs. This is a part of the
country where people are pretty plain and speak their minds plainly, and I
appreciate that very much.

Q One thing that I did notice about your husband when he was governor is
people down here tend to enjoy a good sense of humor and a practical joke,
and I think the President -- well, then-governor, portrayed that very well,
a little hint of mischievousness --

MRS. BUSH: Well, he does have a great sense of humor. That was what I liked
about him when I met him here in 1977. One of the first things that I
remembered when our friend, Joey O'Neill -- who will be here with us today,
of course -- Joey and Jan introduced us in their backyard at a barbeque in
1977. One of the things I liked best about him was that he made me laugh
and he was funny.

And that is a very good characteristic to have, a good sense of humor, when
you face challenges, difficulties that we face every day, of course,
because he's President, and all the challenges that our country faces. But
also when you're raising two girls, when you have two 13-year-old girls and
there is high tension around the house, it's really nice to have a daddy
that can make them laugh and diffuse the tension a little bit by being
funny. So I appreciate that very much about his character.

Q What do you hope -- and you've probably answered this question numerous
times -- what do you hope people remember about your time in the White
House?

MRS. BUSH: Well, of course, what I hope the most is that we end up with a
peace, that we end up with a peace after this war on terror, that
Afghanistan and Iraq can build their democracies so that they'll be a
beacon of hope in the Middle East, and that all of the sacrifices that
we've made as a country, that our military families have made will be worth
it; that we will have the peace that we want for our children and
grandchildren.

And I believe that will happen. These are very, very challenging times.
They're difficult times. What happened on September 11th was something no
one ever expected and certainly Americans didn't know that something like
that could happen to us. We felt -- we didn't think we were vulnerable, we
were protected by two oceans. But it woke us all up and made us realize
that what happens in other countries can affect us and that if we can help
other countries build stable democracies, that we'll be better off.

I also hope that we'll be remembered for -- and I hope that Americans know
-- how generous the United States is and how their tax money is being used
in Africa, for instance, to fight AIDS. There is the African Education
Initiative, that pays scholarship for girls, so that girls can go to
school. The World Food Program, which is part of -- it's a U.N. program
that I just briefed last week with the director of it, the ambassador, Tony
Hall,*** who is the ambassador there. And he says that we feed -- the
United States feeds over half the world, over half the food that comes from
the World Food Program that goes around the world comes from the United
States.

I hope people know that. I think they do know it, but I hope people really
have a chance to know how their tax money is being spent around the world
helping people.

Q What will you take from this experience? How has it changed you, if it
has?

MRS. BUSH: Well, of course, it has in so many ways. I mean, I've benefitted
so much just from the opportunity to know so many Americans, to see, really
what we do around the world. I've had the chance to travel to countries all
over the world. I've had the chance to meet freedom fighters from around
the world, as well. And I appreciate that very much.

But what's really most important to me is I've had the chance to meet so
many Americans, and I've had the chance to see so many, many people in our
country. Americans are very decent and they're very generous. And I've had
the chance to see that. And not only that, they are really pretty strong.
They are strong, they can face challenges, Americans know they can overcome
challenges. And I respect that. I respect the American people very much. So
that, of course, is what I'll remember the most and cherish the most for
the rest of my life.

Q Thank you.

END 11:14 A.M. CDT
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