St. Paul, Minnesota,
Jun 6 -
First Lady Laura Bush was in town on Tuesday, June 6 for a campaign event with Mark Kennedy and over 500 of his supporters at The Depot in Minneapolis.
Kennedy introduced the First Lady saying:
It is an honor to have the First Lady, Laura Bush, with us today in Minnesota!
Like my wife, Debbie, Mrs. Bush was a public school teacher. She has devoted much of her life to educating the leaders of tomorrow.
Most Minnesotans know that the First Lady has made literacy in America a top priority. They might not be as aware that her humanitarian and charitable efforts span the globe. Last year, during an historic trip to Afghanistan, she witnessed firsthand the inspirational progress achieved by the Afghan people after the fall of the Taliban. She visited the Women's Teacher Training Institute in Kabul, which is training women to lead classrooms that girls were once forbidden to enter.
When the First Lady was in Afghanistan, she no doubt had experiences similar to the one I had in Washington, hosting an Iraqi woman who was in town to see what democracy was all about.
On our way to a vote, we stopped to take a picture. She stood in front of the American flag and affectionately reached behind her and draped it over her shoulder. Seeing the affection she had for our flag, I asked my staff to find a flag flown over the Capitol in 2003 that we could give her.
When I gave her the flag, I said, “This flag was flown over our Capitol in the year your country has liberated.” Even though we were rushing to a vote, she stopped, gave me a hug and cried. She cried because for the first time in her life, she had hope for a better life for her children and grandchildren; she could see how the ideals that our soldiers carry in their hearts were being transplanted and budding as the Iraqi Dream.
The women of Iraq and Afghanistan are so much better off today because of American leadership and action. Beyond liberating these two nations, America has now gone almost 5 years without being attacked. That’s because the President has taken the difficult steps necessary to keep us safe.
Thank goodness we have a President who gets up every day more concerned with protecting America than with daily public opinion polls. It’s not about polls; it’s about doing what’s right.
Please help me welcome a teacher who is focused on doing what’s right for the children of Minnesota, our country and our world, the First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Laura Bush.
