Captioning performed by vitac on that note, Pablo Miguel Martinez on facebook references that. Mrs. Bush invited and then disinvited poets to the white house. Has she ever commented on this debacle, as the viewer called it . Has she spoken out about what that meant . Not that im aware of. I think that she has a tendency to say that it is unfortunate that people cant come together and have a civilized discussion. That once again, you might be able to find some Common Ground if you can get beyond that rhetoric. But i dont think shes smopoke about it directly. Martha is watching us. Hi, martha. Youre on. Caller hey. Thank you so much for taking my call. You know, its interesting that between laura bush and last week Hillary Clinton, theyre two women of my generation. One has chosen one path. One has chosen another path. Both women i admire very much. The one success they have had is that they have both raised strong, successful young women. Can you comment on the difference between the two and why . Thank you. Thanks very much. I guess on the difference between the two and why they have both managed to raise strong women or thats what shes implying. Very different women, yet their children are both strong women. I guess i would say, and i guess i believe this myself, i would like to think as a strong woman who i hope has raised strong and successful daughters. I think there should be room in america for all kinds of women to have all kinds of personalities and temperaments and paths. And to devote our attention in whatever ways we want to, whether we set aside our own careers for a time, whether we pick them back up again, whether we stitch our lives together through those decades, make it work within our own families. We each have our own ways we can pursue that, yet we can all reach the same kinds of levels of what we would feel as satisfaction and success in raising our children. Yes, i think they are very different women. I think they also are very both women, however, as first women and a lot of these first ladies will tell you they saw their time in office as being primarily to be a support to their husband. And i think there are people that rubs the wrong way, feels like it is an antifeminist position. You should be able to work, you should be able to certainly pursue your own interests. Maybe you can disagree with your husband, but i think that particular hot house of being in the white house and the stresses on any couple who is in that job, if you dont have a strong partnership, that president is not going to be as successful as he can be, or to put it another way, would be even less successful than he might have been. And i think certainly george bush has spoken about that directly and every one has spoken about that. I think its a partnership that is an integral one to the health of the american democracy. And in november of 2001, shortly after the attacks, laura bush made a bit of first lady history by becoming the first first lady to deliver the president s weekly radio address. Which is a custom. Many of you probably listen to them today with president obama. Heres her reflections on that experience and youll hear a little bit of that address she gave. Laura bush, did it surprise you at first when you first became first lady at the platform you were given and the voice you had . I didnt i knew it. I mean, i knew that, of course. I knew it intellectually because i had seen my motherinlaw and the platform she had to talk about literacy, which was her particular interest. I had seen ladybird johnson and how she had influenced me at home in texas because of her interest in native plants, but i didnt really know it until i made the president s radio address. President ial radio address in that fall of 2001, after the terrorist attack, to talk about what, the way women and children were treated by the taliban in afghanistan. Good morning. Im laura bush. And im delivering this weeks radio address to kick off a worldwide effort to focus on the brutality against women and children by the Al Qaeda Terrorist Network and the regime it supports in afghanistan. The taliban. That regime is now in retreat across much of the country, and the people of afghanistan, especially women, are rejoicing. Afghan women know through hard experience what the rest of the world is discovering. The brutal oppression of women is a central goal of the terrorists. Not only because our hearts break for the women and children in afghanistan but also because in afghanistan we see the world the terrorists would like to impose on the rest of us. All of us have an obligation to speak out. We may come from different backgrounds and faiths, but parents the world over love their children. We respect our mothers, our sisters, and daughters. Fighting brutality against women and children is not the expression of a specific culture. Its the acceptance of our common humanity. And thats the first time i really realized that people heard me. And that what i said people listened to. And so then i knew from then on, although i think you dont ever really know it intellectually until maybe after you leave and see what the platform is. Mark, that experience helped laura bush find her voice as first lady. She did find her voice in that issue. She talks about going to austin to visit her daughter at the university of texas. Jenna was attending college there at the time, and going to, with jenna to a department store. And there were a couple middle eastern women behind the counter who thanked her for making that speech and raising awareness about the brutal treatment of women under the taliban in afghanistan. And she realized at that moment what a profound difference she could make. I mean, i guess in a studio making a radio address, you dontaffects, but it was that moment that told hoar she was making a difference. How did she use that voice once she found it. Shes always been torn because shes one of the few people i have ever encountered in washington who refuses to credit for what she has accomplished. This is a city where people are always taking credit for things they have nothing to do anything with. And for instance, she was instrumental in spurring a program whereby Liz Claiborne and the Singer SewingMachine Company donated services and goods to women in afghanistan so they could become selfsufficient. Thinking about our previous caller, one of the things she and Hillary Clinton certainly share as very different women is this fervent belief that societies cant be successful if they dont take advantage of half their population, and those half of the populations repressed in poverty. She was very interested in doing that, although i can remember pressing her repeatedly to say, how does secretary chow get involved. How did Liz Claiborne get involved . Finally, she mumbled, well, i talked to secretary chow, but i think finding a voice for her, she isnt her bully pulpit is resultsbased, i guess i would say, and she has liked to use it in a way that she thinks will get results. People will raise money. She continues to do that today. She really travels quite a bit, i noticed, and speaks on behalf of a lot of organizations who are raising money for things she believes in, like a couple times a month, from what i can see. Connie is watching us in east lansing, michigan. Caller how are you . Great. Whats your question for us . Caller Hillary Clinton and laura bush have either a project or a foundation that they both work on or their staffs both work on. And im wondering if you could explain or talk about that a little bit. Im sorry we dont hear more about it. Okay. Both first ladies have foundations. Can you talk about how this works even in the world of campaign giving and finance and how one can be in public life and accept contributions like this and what it does politically. Well, laura bush continues to work on the issues that were on importance to her as first lady through the Bush Institute. So the bush center is a conglomeration of a number of interests, including the bush foundation, which is a b benefactor to all things bush, including the bush library and Bush Institute. So the bushes continue to further the causes that they began to take initiatives toward in the white house. But they do that with the help of donors. With the help of donors, yes. The Bush Institute raises money that in turn goes into the Bush Institute and to projects relating to the bush library as well. Now, the case of laura bush, her husband isnt going to be running for president again, and she certainly isnt going to be running for president herself, so in some ways, while there could be influence that those donors might gain if there were another bush, for instance, to run for president , yes, i think thats possible. But in some ways i guess i think that theyre sort of protected at this point from that. However, in the case of mrs. Clinton and the clinton global initiative, i think that that remains an area that the public rightfully wants watchfulness on, and i think those of us in journalism continue to try to track because if she were to run again, then those people who have paid her money for speeches or have donated to her various causes have a relationship with her that we would want to examine. Everyone watching this program knows about the many challenges this country faced during the eight years of the Bush Administration. It was a difficult time for the country, not only the 9 11 attacks but after that, the decision to pursue the wars in iraq and afghanistan. Also during that time period, there was Hurricane Katrina and ultimately the 2008 financial crisis. And on the domestic policy side, the Big Initiative was no child left behind, the major Education Administration administrations major education initiative. Laura bush continued to pursue her own interests even as the country responded to the various Bush Administration policies. How challenging is it we have seen this throughout the series about first ladies standing beside their husbands as the Public Opinion of their work changes. How challenging is that for a spouse to see the increased criticism that the person youre married to is receiving in the public eye . I think its very difficult for them to see the scrutiny exacted at their husbands. You know, i think because they know the man. They know the real person. And very often, we can get caught up in the heat of the moment when we scrutinize our president s. And they almost become caricatures in a way. So for laura bush, who is so deeply in love with her husband, to see the way he was treated must have hurt deeply. She continued to stand by him. I think she traveled far more in his second term than she did in the first term. And she was because again, she had found a voice on so many issues particularly relating to women. And tried to further that cause by hitting the road. And trying to be trying to better explain his policies to our nation and to the world. And 2004, the reelection bid, laura bush was on the road extensively during the campaign here, and the next clip shows you one of the challenges of being a first lady when youre trying to pursue your own agenda and the pesky press corps continues to ask questions. Im very proud of the no child left behind act and proud of the way schools and states all across the country are rallying to meet the goals of that act. Its almost the same goals. We all have the same goals. And thats to make sure every child gets a great education. Theres a very large achievement gap between poor school districts, and the students in poor schools and the students in more affluent schools. Thats what we need to address. Its not fair in our country to have that much of an achievement gap. How has it been in the last couple weeks for you watching your husband be criticized so widespread around the world for the behavior of the American Military . Im sorry about that, but i do know that those prison photos dont reflect the vast majority of our military men and women. And they certainly dont reflect the values of the people of the United States of america. And i know that. And its terrible, but the good news in our country is those people will be prosecuted. There will be transparency in what happens, and you know, thats one of the benefits of living in a free country. But im sorry about those photographs. Im sorry about what happened to the iraqi prisoners, because it doesnt reflect our country. What are you seeing there . Well, i was really thinking about when where watched that, i think one of the things we never really talk much about with first ladies is their qualities of leadership. We talk about leadership in terms of chief executives, people who we elected to put in charge. Think of leadership as also being really specific and targeted and focused about how much time you have and what you can accomplish with that time you have. And so, in the case of laura bush, particularly in that second term, when she realizes that its her last chance to have an impact, there are many, many things she may be concerned about that she may discuss privately with her husband, shes certainly not going to relate to the rest of us. She may have issues she disagrees with him on, but the idea of trying to remain focused on the areas where she would like to have impact and knowing that she can fritter her time away if she doesnt remain what we would call on message, which also can be highly specific and focused is something we see her do there. And i think that, you know, with ten years passed, i would leave it to viewers to decide if they think they see sincerity there or not, whether she does in fact say im very sorry about that or whether she seems as if shes just trying to take a pass on it. What we do know now is that we have had other horrible incidents with our military, but for the most part, for all of the people who are in service, it is in fact an anomaly. And you heard her address that there. She was speaking at a school about education initiatives, no child left behind was a major one of the Bush Administration. They want to know what was lauras role in no child left behind . As a teacher, did she support the direction that the president s reform policies were taking . She saernl did publicly. I think she was making a speech about education there. And supporting his policy. They talked about, president bush campaigned talking about the low expectations and they wanted to narrow that achievement gap. I think what she said at night behind closed doors, we dont know, as she said to a reporter once, if i had differences with my husband, i wouldnt be telling you. So we dont know what she felt. She certainly, again, as we could see there, supported his policy. By speaking about it publicly. On the international front, she traveled extensively, as you mentioned, and she ultimately visited nearly 75 countries during her years in the white house. In addition to afghanistan, she became very much involved in the president s african aids relief effort. And malaria eradication efforts. And also met with burmese refugees and exiles at the white house. When she chose to be involved internationally, what drove those decisions . I think what drove a lot of those decisions was, again, the issue of womens rights and their full participation in the societies in which they were, and an extension of that was women she felt wanted to know that they could raise their children to have lives that were sustaining and successful as best they could. And the human rights flowed out of that. I think that the teachings of the dalai lama have been of interest to her in a way philosophically there have been a couple members of the family who are engaged in that. The president has a cousin who has been very engaged in that, and through those conversations, she once again saw a female leader in a country who had been repressed and under arrest for many years, sort of moved her to that. What do you think about that . When you talk to george w. Bush about this, why he got involved in aids relief in africa, where no other president had really given much thought to africa, remarkably, george w. Bush did by far more for the continent of africa than any of his predecessors. The reason is, to whom much is given much is required. He saw that aids was eradicating much of subsaharan africa. And he could do something about it. He could make a measurable difference. He thought if he didnt do that, if he didnt take a chance and invest money in that cause, in the eradication of that insidious disease, we would be judged in years to come. I think a lot of it had to do with his religious faith, and again, i think laura bush shares that faith. Next is cathy in illinois. Hi, kathdcathy. Caller hello, the reason im calling is earlier in the program, the question was raised about when laura found her face once more. I read her book, and she mentioned, i lost my faith that november. Lost it for many, many years. If i recall correctly, when she was on the book tour program for people interviewing her about her book she had written, she was asked when did you find your faith . And she said that it came back to her gradually, and she mentioned like when her twin daughters were born, that that, you know, she said good things started happening, and i found my faith gradually, and i found it interesting on that subject in her book, she also mentioned she said the one thing the one wrenching fact is i had faith that one is never alone. And i think that probably sums up how she felt about her faith. Thank you very much for calling and adding to our discussion. Turning to her book, also on another issue, and that is social policy issues like abortion and earlier a caller mentioned gay rights. Heres what she brieks in spoken from the heart. On the issue of abortions, i have been struck by the deep divide between the sides and how rarely the alternative of adoption is raised. We have so many friends and family members who found their children through adoption. George and i were fully expecting to be one of those. Today, for women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, infertility is the issue most personal to them and private strugt that breaks their hearts. Were a nation of different generations and beliefs seeing issues through different eras and eyes. While cherishing life, i always believed abortion is a private decision and there no one can walk in anyone elses shoes. Something she and george w. Differ on, one would say. I think she said publicly when she was first lady she was not in favor