Spoken From The Heart, that's the title of former first lady, Laura Bush's first book, an insight to life inside The White House during her husbands time in office. It could have been a wonderful expose of what was one of the most talked about US Presidential appointments of all time. However, So far, it's not exactly been getting great reviews, some critics pointing claiming it rather weak on actual substance and also peppered with grammatical and spelling errors.
However, for me there are a couple of key paragraphs of note, firstly on Gay Marriage, Mrs Bush had this to say.
“In 2004 the social question that animated the campaign was gay marriage. Before the election season had unfolded, I had talked to George about not making gay marriage a significant issue. We have, I reminded him, a number of close friends who are gay or whose children are gay. But at that moment I could never have imagined what path this issue would take and where it would lead.”
In the 450+ page book, that beats her husbands tome to the book stores by five months, she also writes about her meetings with various heads of state along with members of the UK's own Royal Family. Recalling a 2005 event, she wrote the following, “When Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, came to visit us, they requested glasses of ice before we began a long receiving line. The staff dutifully produced them, and the Prince removed a flask from his pocket and added to each a small splash of what I presume was straight gin, so that they might be fortified before the hour of hand shaking"
The revelation that Prince Charles might have a little drink from a hip flask isn't exactly going to set the world on fire with excitement, nor a best seller make. In a lot of circles, especially the 'old' English aristocracy it's quite a common thing, to have a little tipple now and again throughout the day. Though, if I were to guess, it's more likely to have been vodka in the flask, gin has a pretty potent aroma, you'd be able to smell it a mile off!
It was also on this royal tour of America, that the Prince and Duchess visited New Orleans to survey first hand the terrible damage caused by Hurricane Katrina earlier in the year. Bush, himself faced a lot of national and international criticism at the time for his own reluctance in visiting the devastated city.
Of this, Mrs Bush wants to set the record straight, claiming it was all a misunderstanding “He did not want one single life to be lost because someone was catering to the logistical requirements of a president,” she writes. “He did not want his convoy of vehicles to block trucks delivering water or food or medical supplies, or to impede National Guardsmen from around the nation who were arriving to help.”
I'm not one of those that will be rushing out to get and pour over a copy of this book, it seems to me, pretty light weight and wishy washy, lacking real power, insight and excitement. Perhaps we'll have to wait from Mr Bush's book to give us that, providing he can actually tear himself away from the golf course to finish the darn thing!
Jason Shaw
GayAgenda.com's UK Correspondent
Jason continues his search for answers on his blog The Seafront Diaries.
© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw
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