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American Morning

Look at Evolution of First Lady

Aired February 12, 2002 - 07:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Since 9-11 we have certainly seen the transformation of a president. What has been less clear, though, is the evolution of the first lady. Laura Bush is playing a much larger role than she has in the past and last night she took a turn as America's first lady of comedy with Jay Leno.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I know you've been doing a lot of jokes about a pretzel, so I thought I would actually show everyone in the United States what the pretzel looked like.

JAY LENO: Wow, oh, ooh, that's a nice...

BUSH: You can tell it isn't really a sissy pretzel.

LENO: No, no, not a sissy. Not a sissy pretzel. Only Texas would have a word like sissy pretzel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And joining us now to talk more about the changing face of the first lady, CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley, who joins us from Washington this morning -- Candy, good morning.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

ZAHN: So I know you covered President George Bush's campaign in 2000 and you certainly spent some time with the soon to be first lady during that period of time. Are we seeing a new Laura Bush emerge here?

CROWLEY: You know, it seems to me we're certainly, first of all, seeing more of Laura Bush, as you noted. But we're also seeing a more confident, self-assured Laura Bush in public, which is not to say she wasn't that way in private because her friends say that she absolutely was that way. So we're seeing a different, we're seeing the private Laura Bush in public and she's more out there now.

What you're looking at now is an event she did after September 11 to bring a spotlight to the plight of Afghan women. Remember, this is a woman who has felt safest, has felt more self-assured in the classroom -- she's a former librarian, a former teacher. But she's expanded her role into a number of other areas since 9-11. They both like to tell the story about how when he proposed to her he promised her that she'd never have to give a public speech and she promised him she'd go jogging every day with him. They've both broken their promises. In fact, just recently she gave the longest speech of her career at the National Press Club and took questions from the press.

So certainly, Paula, her role has expanded.

ZAHN: And I know, Candy, you have reported that privately at least the first lady gives a lot of political advice to the president, including advice on what to do in the Middle East. Are we likely to see any of that become more public?

CROWLEY: I really doubt it. This is a woman who has enormous sway over her husband. He values her judgment and he listens to her. As she's said in public, I guess we do talk about these things. But she is at this point much more modeled after her mother-in-law, Barbara Bush, than after Hillary Clinton. This is a woman who talks to him in private. I think in public you are going to continue to see Laura Bush focus on those issues that are important to her -- education, paying teachers more, that sort of thing.

But again, she has expanded her role and I think we're going to hear her speak out on a lot of other things. But post-9-11, what you saw really was her taking public what everyone says she is in private, and that is sort of a nurturer. And it seems to me that she took that role and sort of nurtured a nation in a very sort of shaky time. So it was a natural role for her on an expanded platform.

ZAHN: Candy, we just looked at about I guess video representing maybe a year's worth of time there. Is it my immigration or does the first lady even look different now than she did at the inauguration?

CROWLEY: She does look different. She's gotten her hair cut. She's wearing slightly different clothes, a little more East Coast, a little less Texas.

ZAHN: All right...

CROWLEY: But this is a woman that's always said look, I, you know, clothes don't mean all that much to her. She much prefers blue jeans to haute couture. But she certainly has spiffed up the look. I think her daughters have been of some influence, according to some of the things that I've heard and read. So, yes, she does look different.

ZAHN: And I think the one thing that's abundantly clear is that she's a woman very much comfortable in her own skin.

All right, Candy Crowley, thank you for joining us this morning.

CROWLEY: Absolutely.

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