Laura Bush Says Obama is “Doing a Good Job” in Tough Times

In spite of all the problems he has been facing in the last couple of weeks President Barack Obama has gained praise from quite an unusual source – former First Lady Laura Bush. Speaking to CNN from Paris she surprised many republicans by saying that she believes that Obama is doing a good job in some very tough times.

The normally understated Mrs. Bush was most vociferous in her support of the President’s plan to address the nation’s schoolchildren on Tuesday. She did not completely dismiss Conservative concerns but was quick to point out that the original lesson plan that began the controversy, which had suggested that children be asked to write letters about how they could “help the President’ had been changed and that the point of the speech was encourage children to stay in school.

"I think there is a place for the president ... to talk to schoolchildren and encourage them” she said “Parents should follow his example and encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream that they have."

As a former educator herself, education is a subject dear to Laura Bush’s heart. She was speaking to CNN whilst in Paris to promote global literacy, an issue she spoke of a great deal while she still resided in the White House herself.
After he gives his speech to the nation’s schoolchildren Obama will return to preparations for yet another crucial speech he is to deliver on Wednesday, this time returning to the debate over health care reform. He will be taking the unusual step of addressing a joint session of Congress and his aides told press that they can expect to see the President take a far more aggressive stance on the issue than he has in recent weeks.

Although he was given a great deal of input from advisors as to the content of his address, which will be televised nationwide in prime time, his aides say that he spent most of his weekend at Camp David writing the actual body of the speech himself.

The one thing that aides in the Obama administration did admit was that it is crucial that Obama “come up big” on Wednesday in order to salvage his reform efforts, but according to one "he's at his best" in difficult situations and they believe that the same fire and passion that got him elected in the first place will be fully in evidence on Wednesday evening.