PrintJanuary 1, 2009
Laura Bush, Steel Magnolia
Laura Bush has single-handedly restored the term, "lady," to the American vocabulary. And she has done it with such rare aplomb that nary a soul seems to have even noticed, which is precisely the way I'm convinced she planned it.
I took an instant liking to Laura Bush; I won't deny it. After eight years of Hillary Clinton trying to act as an unelected co-President and leftist feminists egging her on every step of the way, Laura Bush came on the scene as a refreshing respecter of the electorate, content not to seize power that wasn't rightfully hers. What could be more democratic than that. Bravo Laura.
I've read three biographies of Laura Bush, and the one thing upon which all agree, is that there seems to be no one anywhere with any dirt on the woman. She has survived six decades without a notable fall from grace, and nearly an entire decade in the most public glare there is. She is, by all accounts, the epitome of grace and elegance, qualities trashed with a vengeance by faux-feminists for the past 40 years. In one fell, eight-year swoop, Mrs. Bush has restored authentic feminism, being for all the world to see, her own woman. So secure is she in her own skin that pressure to morph into the garish pretentiousness of "I am Woman; hear me roar," has finally taken the bruise for which it's been cruising all these many years.
Laura Bush has been quite viciously derided, ridiculed and mocked by the debauchery-ridden left since she first stepped foot into the role of First Lady, most likely because she has more real class in her pinky than her detractors have in their entire lot. The supreme irony here is that while Laura Bush has been called, "dumb, dumb, dumb," "little wifey," "First Dummy," and a whole heap of epithets no lady would repeat, she has successfully run a scandal-free White House for an entire eight years.
These things don't just happen all by themselves.
George W. Bush was well on his way towards alcoholic doom, while still in his late thirties. Who was it that stood staunchly in his path to self-destruction? It was, of course, a valiant Steel Magnolia, Laura, who determined to exact a choice from him: Me and your daughters, or the bottle. You pick.
He made a wise choice, and no sane man or woman can deny that without it, he might likely have ended up in an over-priced gutter somewhere, but never as our Commander in Chief the day the planes struck America in our heart of hearts.
Of course, Laura Bush was no wimpy schoolgirl when she married G.W. She was already in her thirties, living a perfectly independent single life as an elementary school librarian, and from every account quite content -- all on her own. An authentic feminist, defining herself in her own way. I nearly ruined my keyboard with spit-out coffee the day in 2003, when the ketchup heiress mused that Laura had "never had a real job" as a "grown-up."
Honestly, the ketchup heiress did say that.
Here is precisely what Teresa Heinz Kerry, said of First Lady, Laura Bush:
"Well, you know, I don't know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good," Heinz Kerry said. "But I don't know that she's ever had a real job -- I mean, since she's been grown up. So her experience and her validation comes from important things, but different things.""I'm older, and my validation of what I do is a little bit bigger -- because I'm older, and I've had different experiences. And it's not a criticism of her. It's just, you know, what life is about..."
What is it about silver-spooned, rich, Democrat women and the phrase, "you know."
And now, dear reader, we come to the essence of the conflict between conservative women and liberal women. We saw it in full play this year with the verbal clawing, spitting and hissing perpetrated against Sarah Palin, an authentic feminist if there ever was one. It is the age-old cat fight, the female equivalent of the barroom brawl among men. Except that when it comes to conservative women vs. liberal women, it is the real feminists vs. the faux-feminists.
Faux-feminists talk a big talk, have grand visions of the world at their fingertips, while quite necessary tasks right under their own noses run amok. Real feminists, on the other hand, make personal choices and then they actually take responsibility for doing the work they've set out to do. Real feminists walk the walk without the big talk.
How does one spot an authentic feminist? At the moment, all one need do is look to Laura Bush, who has run a splendidly lovely, disciplined White House for a Nation at war from without and within, and nothing whatsoever on her side of things has gone the least bit awry. Laura Bush has provided this Country with one of the greatest favors it's ever been done. By keeping things under her own nose completely under control, she has allowed our elected officials to simply do their jobs unbothered by the costly distractions for which her predecessor was infamous.
Laura Bush followed on the heels of Hillary Clinton, who was determined from the start to redefine the role of First Lady around her own faux-feminism. Hillary assumed (wrongly, of course) that being a feminist means seizing power, attempting great things and that if the whole house runs scandal-crazy under one's nose at the same time, it's of no importance. Michelle Obama hit Hillary's nail on its head, when she parried a South Carolina crowd during the primaries with this zinger:
"How can she (Hillary Clinton) run the White House when she can't even run her own house?"
Precisely. I could not have said it better myself.
Laura Bush has proven herself an authentic feminist, first and foremost, by running her house well, and unencumbered by power-grabbing foibles of her own.
Could America really ask for more? I think not. Quiet competence in the real world rarely gets any notice, but without it the whole world quickly heads asunder. Thank goodness for Laura Bush and her reestablishing the confines of the highest non-elected office in the land. Unheralded by most, she is indeed a great lady.
Kyle-Anne Shiver is a frequent contributor to American Thinker. She welcomes your comments at kyleanneshiver@gmail.com.
