July 2005: After a safari weekend, Laura Bush stepped out of a dusty SUV with her twin daughters on Monday to serve as a goodwill ambassador in Africa for President Bush.
The first lady’s whirl through South Africa, Tanzania and Rwanda this week comes on the heels of a Scotland summit where British Prime Minister Tony Blair made alleviating Africa’s mass suffering the top agenda item for Bush and leaders of other wealthy countries.
Mrs. Bush and her 23-year-old daughters, Barbara and Jenna, spent the weekend at the Madikwe Game Reserve on the South African-Botswana border….
The first lady’s staff asked photographers to refrain from shooting the twins as they boarded the plane in Gaborone, Botswana, for the flight to Cape Town, on grounds that they were not part of the official delegation.
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From what I’ve read, Laura Bush did some good work (eg see here) on her trips to Africa (she visited the continent five times and traveled in all to 10 different countries during Shrub’s reign, more visits than any other First Lady before her). Apart from a few voices, though, there weren’t too many complaints when she took her daughters to Africa, part of the 2005 trip a private safari.
Needless to say (yawn), the right are attacking Michelle Obama again because her trip to Africa will end with ….. a private safari.
I won’t link the site where I saw this discussed (one of the f**kwits there is posting racist photos in the thread), but I liked this exchange:
Question: Why were the right not outraged when Laura Bush took her daughters to Africa and they went on safari?
Answer: Because she’s white?
;-)
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More on First Lady Michelle Obama’s African visit here
White House.gov