First Lady's Influence Goes Global
Speaking Out on Burma, Bush Takes Her Highest-Profile International Role
By Washington Post, Monday, October 15, 2007
CRAWFORD, Tex., Oct. 14 -- It's a long way from the broad expanse of Texas to the lush forests of Burma, from the boots-and-broncos rodeo in nearby Waco to the bloody crackdown against barefoot monks in Rangoon. Yet that troubled faraway land somehow has gotten under the skin of a former librarian from the Lone Star State and vaulted toward the top of the U.S. foreign policy agenda.
Laura Bush, while vacationing at the family ranch here in August, was going through news clippings sent by her staff back in Washington when she read about the burgeoning protests and arrests in Burma. She grew alarmed enough that, as soon as she got back to Washington, she picked up the telephone and called the U.N. secretary general. And ever since, she has waged a campaign to rally world pressure on Burma's military junta.
The first lady has taken an interest in Burma ever since a family member told her about the Asian nation's plight five years ago, but she has taken a higher-profile leadership role on this in recent weeks than she has on any international issue during nearly seven years in the East Wing. She has lobbied officials and diplomats, issued public statements, given multiple interviews, supported new sanctions against the junta, and written an op-ed column speaking out on behalf of the repressed population in the country that some call Myanmar.
"It's the one foreign policy issue she's really spoken out on, and that makes it significant," said Victor D. Cha, who managed Asian affairs at the White House until earlier this year and now teaches at Georgetown University. "She was always very careful about the issues she would be involved in and would pick them very selectively."
Activists and analysts credit Bush with helping to focus international attention on the conflict in Burma in a unifying way that her husband could not. With virtually every other major figure in the administration compromised on the world stage to one degree or another, she does not bring the baggage of Iraq to the table. And yet everyone understands that if she speaks out, she has the force of the administration behind her.
"Laura Bush is one of the few people in the administration who has maintained her popularity and credibility both at home and abroad," said Nancy E. Soderberg, a former senior U.S. diplomat at the United Nations under President Bill Clinton who is now at the University of North Florida. "So when she says something on an issue, it has an impact. There's no question when a first lady takes on an issue, it's at the top of everybody's inbox."
Her outspokenness on Burma reflects a growing confidence. Bush has mapped out an ambitious agenda in recent years that extends beyond issues such as literacy. She traveled abroad on her own just five times during President Bush's first term, but later this week she will leave on her ninth solo overseas trip since his reelection, destined this time for the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
"You know, this is not new for me," the first lady said in an interview last month, noting her travels to Africa and elsewhere. "But as I've lived here longer, I realize -- I became more aware that I have more of a chance to speak out about these sorts of issues that especially concern me. And I want to take advantage of that."
All told, she has visited 68 countries so far, either with the president or on her own, just shy of the 82 visited by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Unlike her predecessor, Laura Bush tends to steer clear of controversial issues on such trips. But she has tripped up before. During a visit to Egypt in 2005, she praised President Hosni Mubarak for democratic reforms that turned out to be little more than a sham, and her statements were deeply disillusioning for opposition activists.
She is not an independent actor and generally coordinates closely with the National Security Council and the State Department before speaking out. "There's no lone-ranger action on the part of the East Wing," said Anita McBride, the first lady's chief of staff. "It just doesn't happen that way."
When it comes to Burma, Bush confers with her friend Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, as well as with national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley and other senior officials. McBride is routinely included in e-mails and staff meetings on the situation there, and activists have put the first lady's office in their mailing lists for regular updates from the field.
The first lady traces her interest to Burma to Elsie Walker, a cousin of her husband who takes an interest in human rights issues. Walker told Bush about Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition leader whose party won free elections in 1990, only to have the Burmese military nullify the vote and keep her under arrest for most of the years since. The first lady became captivated by Suu Kyi's story when she read her book "Freedom From Fear," which led to her interest in the broader Burmese situation.
Laura Bush, while vacationing at the family ranch here in August, was going through news clippings sent by her staff back in Washington when she read about the burgeoning protests and arrests in Burma. She grew alarmed enough that, as soon as she got back to Washington, she picked up the telephone and called the U.N. secretary general. And ever since, she has waged a campaign to rally world pressure on Burma's military junta.
The first lady has taken an interest in Burma ever since a family member told her about the Asian nation's plight five years ago, but she has taken a higher-profile leadership role on this in recent weeks than she has on any international issue during nearly seven years in the East Wing. She has lobbied officials and diplomats, issued public statements, given multiple interviews, supported new sanctions against the junta, and written an op-ed column speaking out on behalf of the repressed population in the country that some call Myanmar.
"It's the one foreign policy issue she's really spoken out on, and that makes it significant," said Victor D. Cha, who managed Asian affairs at the White House until earlier this year and now teaches at Georgetown University. "She was always very careful about the issues she would be involved in and would pick them very selectively."
Activists and analysts credit Bush with helping to focus international attention on the conflict in Burma in a unifying way that her husband could not. With virtually every other major figure in the administration compromised on the world stage to one degree or another, she does not bring the baggage of Iraq to the table. And yet everyone understands that if she speaks out, she has the force of the administration behind her.
"Laura Bush is one of the few people in the administration who has maintained her popularity and credibility both at home and abroad," said Nancy E. Soderberg, a former senior U.S. diplomat at the United Nations under President Bill Clinton who is now at the University of North Florida. "So when she says something on an issue, it has an impact. There's no question when a first lady takes on an issue, it's at the top of everybody's inbox."
Her outspokenness on Burma reflects a growing confidence. Bush has mapped out an ambitious agenda in recent years that extends beyond issues such as literacy. She traveled abroad on her own just five times during President Bush's first term, but later this week she will leave on her ninth solo overseas trip since his reelection, destined this time for the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
"You know, this is not new for me," the first lady said in an interview last month, noting her travels to Africa and elsewhere. "But as I've lived here longer, I realize -- I became more aware that I have more of a chance to speak out about these sorts of issues that especially concern me. And I want to take advantage of that."
All told, she has visited 68 countries so far, either with the president or on her own, just shy of the 82 visited by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Unlike her predecessor, Laura Bush tends to steer clear of controversial issues on such trips. But she has tripped up before. During a visit to Egypt in 2005, she praised President Hosni Mubarak for democratic reforms that turned out to be little more than a sham, and her statements were deeply disillusioning for opposition activists.
She is not an independent actor and generally coordinates closely with the National Security Council and the State Department before speaking out. "There's no lone-ranger action on the part of the East Wing," said Anita McBride, the first lady's chief of staff. "It just doesn't happen that way."
When it comes to Burma, Bush confers with her friend Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, as well as with national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley and other senior officials. McBride is routinely included in e-mails and staff meetings on the situation there, and activists have put the first lady's office in their mailing lists for regular updates from the field.
The first lady traces her interest to Burma to Elsie Walker, a cousin of her husband who takes an interest in human rights issues. Walker told Bush about Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition leader whose party won free elections in 1990, only to have the Burmese military nullify the vote and keep her under arrest for most of the years since. The first lady became captivated by Suu Kyi's story when she read her book "Freedom From Fear," which led to her interest in the broader Burmese situation.
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