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American Morning

Interview With First Lady Laura Bush

Aired October 01, 2003 - 09:52   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: From Moscow today, Soledad is traveling with the first lady. Earlier today, she sat down and talked with Laura Bush about how the first lady believes this trip is going overseas thus far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: Well, I think it's been really successful. It's been very fun for me. It was great to be able to raise the American flag at UNESCO, to rejoin UNESCO after 19 years of the United States not being a member. I was really moved after that flag-raising ceremony when so many people on the rope line said, welcome back, to the United States. And I'm glad to be back. All the goals of UNESCO are goals that I've had personally in my life, and I'm really glad to have this opportunity to work with UNESCO.

O'BRIEN: Back at home, the big news, of course, is this investigation by the Justice Department into who exactly leaked the identity of a CIA agent? some people are calling for an independent counsel on this. I assume this is something you've been briefed upon, so it's not news to you. I'm curious to know your reaction to it?

BUSH: Well, my reaction is the same that I know the president's was, which is he certainly doesn't want to think there are any leaks out of the White House, and I know they're cooperating fully with any sort of investigation. They're expecting anyone who might have done that, if they did, to come forward, and my husband wants the very highest ethics in the White House, and so I suspect that whenever this washes out, we'll see who did it, if anyone did.

O'BRIEN: We are a long way out from the election, but there are polls that suggest a relative newcomer, General Clark, theoretically, could beat your husband, if the election were held today. And again, we're a long way out, but are you concerned about General Clark?

BUSH: Not really. Not really. I'm not really that concerned about anyone on the other side right now, until we actually know who that candidate is going to be. I think the polls will go up and down as various candidates light up a little bit, and then move on. So we'll see what happens. But right now, I'm really glad to be here, a world away from Washington and politics, and have this chance to represent the United States in Russia and in France this week.

O'BRIEN: Many people, of course, point to you as sort of the rock for your husband, and I have to imagine with now this investigation, certainly the situation in Iraq, the U.N. resolution, a lot of pressure there. You've said before that, you know, he can withstand the pressure, but give me a sense of how he's holding up now?

BUSH: Well, he's holding up great. I've only talked to him once. / I talked to him once from Paris. The time difference is such that it's hard to call back home from here, but he's doing very well.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little about your book festival, which is just a few days away.

BUSH: That's right.

O'BRIEN: When you get back home...

BUSH: When I go home, we'll -- on Friday night is the gala of the National Book Festival. This is the third National Book Festival. Mrs. Putin came to our book festival last year, and that's really how she got the idea to do the festival that I'm visiting. I'm really excited about it. We have great writers. Julie Andrews has written children's books, and she's going to be there. Stan and Jan Berenstein, who I'm sure you know from having read to your children, are going to be there. They are some of my favorite children's writers. A lot historians, Michael Beschloss, James Bradley. A number of great fiction writers will be there as well.

And then we have a new topic this year called "home and family" that will have two cookbook authors, Patrick O'Connell from "The Inn at Little Washington," and Jacque Pepin will be there with his cookbook, and then a few other people who are decorators and gardeners, and have new books about decorating and gardening.

O'BRIEN: That's a great cookbook. I have Jacque Pepin.

BUSH: Oh, you do.

O'BRIEN: And I can't cook. So it's pretty good.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: You talked a little in the roundtable with Mrs. Putina and the other first ladies about the problem with getting kids to turn off the television. And I thought it was sort of interesting that, you know, across all the nation...

BUSH: That's right, it's a problem everywhere in the world, it really is. There is a lot of competition now for books from television, from computers, from computers games, from video games, all of those are competition. But I think there's really room for everything to really be successful on the computer, to do what my girls are doing now, because they're in college and having to really use the computer for research and for e-mailing their papers to their professors, and even registering for their courses, you need to it be able to read well.

And one of most important things parents can do is to start reading to their children when they're very, very young, and that includes turning the television off. It's very easy to walk over there and turn it off, and parents should do that and really monitor how much time their children spend sitting in front of the television.

Television watching is very passive. There's much more exercise for your brain if you read. And children have been read to when they start school start school way much bigger vocabulary, and they start school ready to learn to read. So it's incumbent upon parents to read.

O'BRIEN: I am confident you don't mean CNN when you're talking about turning off the television.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: No, even CNN.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little about your role as we head into an election year. It's been said by many that a role sort of in the spotlight is not something you necessarily enjoy. Is that true, and do you see that changing?

BUSH: Well, I really like politics. I like campaigning. I've already done a number of fund-raisers for Bush/Cheney, and I like doing that, because I meet people all over the country. I'll see a lot of old friends as I travel around the country campaigning. But when it really gets down to next fall, to the every day on the campaign trail, I like to travel with my husband.

O'BRIEN: More foreign trips then from you?

BUSH: Sure, we'll have more foreign trips. I go to the Dominican Republic later this month for the Conference of the Spouses of the Americas, all of the spouses of North and South American countries, and then on to Thailand with the president, and Australia and a number of other countries.

O'BRIEN: A little more sprinting across the nation. It's nice to chat with you.

BUSH: That's right, across the world.

O'BRIEN: Across the world, yes.

It's nice to have you. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

BUSH: Thanks so much, Soledad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Laura Bush a short time ago with our own Soledad O'Brien, coming to us by way of Moscow today. That European tour continues this week. We had her earlier in Paris, and now in Moscow, the Russian capital. Thanks for that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 1, 2003 - 09:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: From Moscow today, Soledad is traveling with the first lady. Earlier today, she sat down and talked with Laura Bush about how the first lady believes this trip is going overseas thus far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: Well, I think it's been really successful. It's been very fun for me. It was great to be able to raise the American flag at UNESCO, to rejoin UNESCO after 19 years of the United States not being a member. I was really moved after that flag-raising ceremony when so many people on the rope line said, welcome back, to the United States. And I'm glad to be back. All the goals of UNESCO are goals that I've had personally in my life, and I'm really glad to have this opportunity to work with UNESCO.

O'BRIEN: Back at home, the big news, of course, is this investigation by the Justice Department into who exactly leaked the identity of a CIA agent? some people are calling for an independent counsel on this. I assume this is something you've been briefed upon, so it's not news to you. I'm curious to know your reaction to it?

BUSH: Well, my reaction is the same that I know the president's was, which is he certainly doesn't want to think there are any leaks out of the White House, and I know they're cooperating fully with any sort of investigation. They're expecting anyone who might have done that, if they did, to come forward, and my husband wants the very highest ethics in the White House, and so I suspect that whenever this washes out, we'll see who did it, if anyone did.

O'BRIEN: We are a long way out from the election, but there are polls that suggest a relative newcomer, General Clark, theoretically, could beat your husband, if the election were held today. And again, we're a long way out, but are you concerned about General Clark?

BUSH: Not really. Not really. I'm not really that concerned about anyone on the other side right now, until we actually know who that candidate is going to be. I think the polls will go up and down as various candidates light up a little bit, and then move on. So we'll see what happens. But right now, I'm really glad to be here, a world away from Washington and politics, and have this chance to represent the United States in Russia and in France this week.

O'BRIEN: Many people, of course, point to you as sort of the rock for your husband, and I have to imagine with now this investigation, certainly the situation in Iraq, the U.N. resolution, a lot of pressure there. You've said before that, you know, he can withstand the pressure, but give me a sense of how he's holding up now?

BUSH: Well, he's holding up great. I've only talked to him once. / I talked to him once from Paris. The time difference is such that it's hard to call back home from here, but he's doing very well.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little about your book festival, which is just a few days away.

BUSH: That's right.

O'BRIEN: When you get back home...

BUSH: When I go home, we'll -- on Friday night is the gala of the National Book Festival. This is the third National Book Festival. Mrs. Putin came to our book festival last year, and that's really how she got the idea to do the festival that I'm visiting. I'm really excited about it. We have great writers. Julie Andrews has written children's books, and she's going to be there. Stan and Jan Berenstein, who I'm sure you know from having read to your children, are going to be there. They are some of my favorite children's writers. A lot historians, Michael Beschloss, James Bradley. A number of great fiction writers will be there as well.

And then we have a new topic this year called "home and family" that will have two cookbook authors, Patrick O'Connell from "The Inn at Little Washington," and Jacque Pepin will be there with his cookbook, and then a few other people who are decorators and gardeners, and have new books about decorating and gardening.

O'BRIEN: That's a great cookbook. I have Jacque Pepin.

BUSH: Oh, you do.

O'BRIEN: And I can't cook. So it's pretty good.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: You talked a little in the roundtable with Mrs. Putina and the other first ladies about the problem with getting kids to turn off the television. And I thought it was sort of interesting that, you know, across all the nation...

BUSH: That's right, it's a problem everywhere in the world, it really is. There is a lot of competition now for books from television, from computers, from computers games, from video games, all of those are competition. But I think there's really room for everything to really be successful on the computer, to do what my girls are doing now, because they're in college and having to really use the computer for research and for e-mailing their papers to their professors, and even registering for their courses, you need to it be able to read well.

And one of most important things parents can do is to start reading to their children when they're very, very young, and that includes turning the television off. It's very easy to walk over there and turn it off, and parents should do that and really monitor how much time their children spend sitting in front of the television.

Television watching is very passive. There's much more exercise for your brain if you read. And children have been read to when they start school start school way much bigger vocabulary, and they start school ready to learn to read. So it's incumbent upon parents to read.

O'BRIEN: I am confident you don't mean CNN when you're talking about turning off the television.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: No, even CNN.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little about your role as we head into an election year. It's been said by many that a role sort of in the spotlight is not something you necessarily enjoy. Is that true, and do you see that changing?

BUSH: Well, I really like politics. I like campaigning. I've already done a number of fund-raisers for Bush/Cheney, and I like doing that, because I meet people all over the country. I'll see a lot of old friends as I travel around the country campaigning. But when it really gets down to next fall, to the every day on the campaign trail, I like to travel with my husband.

O'BRIEN: More foreign trips then from you?

BUSH: Sure, we'll have more foreign trips. I go to the Dominican Republic later this month for the Conference of the Spouses of the Americas, all of the spouses of North and South American countries, and then on to Thailand with the president, and Australia and a number of other countries.

O'BRIEN: A little more sprinting across the nation. It's nice to chat with you.

BUSH: That's right, across the world.

O'BRIEN: Across the world, yes.

It's nice to have you. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

BUSH: Thanks so much, Soledad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Laura Bush a short time ago with our own Soledad O'Brien, coming to us by way of Moscow today. That European tour continues this week. We had her earlier in Paris, and now in Moscow, the Russian capital. Thanks for that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com