BATON ROUGE, La. -- For years, they have been as elusive as unicorns, shunning the spotlight and taking no part in their father's high-flying political life.
Posted on 05/22/2004 9:35:21 AM PDT by Dog Gone
BATON ROUGE, La. -- For years, they have been as elusive as unicorns, shunning the spotlight and taking no part in their father's high-flying political life.
But today, a new corner is turned in the lives of the Bush twins. President Bush's daughters, Barbara and Jenna, 22, are graduating from their respective universities and plan to join their father's re-election effort, at least for a while.
"They are going to work on the campaign," first lady Laura Bush told the Reuters news agency during a campaign stop this week.
The twins are expected to stick close to Bush-Cheney headquarters just outside Washington but may hit the hustings to campaign for their dad "if they have the confidence," she said.
It's a notable turnaround for the mysterious duo, whose thrills and spills through college have been well-documented by the tabloids despite the best efforts of the White House to enforce a blackout.
This much is known: Jenna Bush is to graduate today from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor's degree in English. Barbara Bush is to graduate Monday with a bachelor's in humanities from Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
Their parents won't be attending. Appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this week, Laura Bush said the necessary madness of presidential security is too much to impose on the parents of other graduates.
"Well, we could make the graduation, but if we went to the graduations, everyone would have to go through (metal detectors), and they're both huge graduations, outside. And it would just be a hassle for the parents and the students, so we chose not to," she said.
Instead, the president and first lady will attend private dinners with each child in Austin and New Haven over the weekend.
Regarding their daughters' milestones, the parents have been characteristically guarded, signaling that the cone of silence surrounding the twins' lives will not lift with graduation.
On Friday, however, as the president gave a commencement address at Louisiana State University, he shared some of things he'd probably like to say to his daughters.
"Listen to your mother," Bush said. "The first voice you heard is always worth listening to."
Bush further admonished the graduates to choose their friends carefully, joking, "I wish someone had warned me about all of Dick Cheney's wild partying."
The president also offered a glimpse into his feelings about seeing his daughters graduate.
"It feels really good to write that last tuition check," Bush said. "It also feels like the last 20 years or so went by awfully fast."
A fast ride, and a bumpy one for the first parents. While the Bush girls' predecessor, the similarly protected Chelsea Clinton, projected the reserved image of a shy ballerina, the Bush girls are something different.
In May 2001, authorities accused the then-19-year-old sisters of drinking cocktails at an Austin restaurant.
Barbara pleaded no contest to underage possession of alcohol. She was ordered to perform eight hours of community service and an attend alcohol awareness class.
But it was the second alcohol-related offense for Jenna. She was fined $600 for trying to use a false ID. She lost her driver's license for 30 days, and was ordered to do community service and attend an alcohol awareness class.
It also earned her the tabloid sobriquet "Jenna and Tonic."
Throughout, the White House has been resolute in not commenting on the girls. But some details could not be suppressed.
According to various reports, Barbara, who followed in the Yale footsteps of her father and best known grandfather, likes vintage clothes. The twins may or may not have partied with celebrity Ashton Kutcher. Photo evidence did prove Jenna dressed for her court date in pink capri pants and a tank top.
The scampish twins also have provided rich material for late-night comedians.
"Jenna `Anheuser' Bush is trying to get her lawyers to strike a plea-bargain agreement over her latest drinking charge. If they can't find an agreement, they said she may lose her driver's license. Which will be no problem. She's got plenty of those," said Leno after Jenna's second drinking offense.
And David Letterman quipped, "The Bush girls have been in so much trouble that today they announced that they were switching their party affiliation to the Kennedy family."
A book about Laura Bush by Washington Post writer Ann Gerhart depicted the twins as spoiled and surly, and uninterested in politics to the point of hostility.
Some of that apparently is changing, if it was ever true. A spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign said it's not been decided what the Bush twins will be doing for the re-election effort. But they have made it clear they want to help their father.
Other details are emerging. People magazine put five reporters on the story and learned that both twins will travel with friends, sit for an interview and photo shoot for Vogue magazine, and then hook up with the campaign.
Whether Bush wins or loses, Jenna plans to move to New York City to share an apartment with friends and do volunteer work with children, according to People.
Barbara will become a paid staffer, probably this summer, with a pediatric AIDS program based at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, officials said. The job will take her to clinics in Africa.
But what about their father? Bush has been mum about whether his girls' growing up is causing any pangs of his own. It's something many fathers go through, possibly even the president.
"I don't think there is any question as you hit these marks in life with your kids, graduating from high school and college, seeing them have serious boyfriends, it all kind of gets you reflecting," said Texas Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and dean of the state Senate.
Last weekend, he attended his daughter Whitney's graduation from Texas State University.
Love the image of Chelsea as a ballerina. That's one ballet I think I'd miss!
They just had to revive the underage drinking stuff again, didn't they? God, I hate the media!
Quite a difference from the Democrat politicians who make a display of power and arrogance by taking up city blocks to go out to dinner--"to hell with the little people."
Julie Mason has apparently forgotten the photo of a fat Chelsea, completely snockered, being helped into a car in England. A ballerina is the last thing she could become, sober or not.
So, which is it? Elusive unicorns or tabloid thrills or just more idiotic fluff journalism? A couple months of tabloid headlines of Jenna's underage drinking and not a peep out of either of them since.
Texas State University? Is that supposed to be UT-Austin?
"Barbara will become a paid staffer, probably this summer, with a pediatric AIDS program based at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, officials said. The job will take her to clinics in Africa. "
For security's sake I don't like that one bit.
No, that's referring to Whitmire's daughter. Texas State University is in San Marcos. I think it used to be known as Southwest Texas University.
Texas State University - San Marcos .. http://www.txstate.edu/
Used to be known as Southwest Texas State
I am learning some lessons from observing the Bush administration and recalling my frustration with the previous one.
I think it is so aggravating to watch the attacks come fast and furious, but I see that quietly, strongly and surely just going about your business triumphs in the end.
I have no doubt in my mind of who will emerge the better in history's annals as the admirable family. The media can whirl and squeal and cry over the clintons' supposed (non-existant in reality) good qualities, but it is all an illusion. The Bush family is made of sterner stuff--real human quality, that wears well over time.
Look at the plans the twins have. Not glamorous and not benefiting by coasting around on the family name. That says much.
I wouldn't be compelled, necessarily to compare the two, (outloud, anyway), but for the media insisting on doing so, as this article illustrates.
"Shy ballerina"?
I snickered when I read that - picturing an enthralled and beguiled writer charmed by the non existent grace of Chelsea Clinton. We really do inhabit different worlds.
You mean we won't be seeing Barbara or Jenna Bush mostly naked at the Cannes Film Festival?
Remember Barbara supposedly wearing denim (turned out to be false, of course) to Buckingham Palace?
No, we shan't be seeing them display themselves like Ms. Alexandra did.
LOL
Barbara will become a paid staffer, probably this summer, with a pediatric AIDS program based at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, officials said. The job will take her to clinics in Africa.
I'm really tired of the stories about the twins' college high jinks (just shows how normal they are). These upcoming pursuits sound like responsible endeavors.
You forget. She did take ballet classes as a young girl. There was much to-do over her performance in the Nutcracker one Christmas when she was about 14-16.
The press raved about it, but they only showed us still photos, no clips of the actual performance.
My wife will only allow me to mouth the words to hymns in church with good reason.
I used to think that underage drinking was a big deal, that is, until I started underage drinking. Granted, I didn't start to underage drink until I was 20, but after I started, I really softened my opinion of the twins. It's really not a big deal, as long as you are responsible about it, which they probably were. At least Jenna would probably be fun to party with.
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