JEDDAH, 24 May 2005 — In a surprising moment of humility, US first lady Laura Bush yesterday said Americans should strive to become more self-critical about the state of their own democracy in the United States, as they promote democracy around the world.
Speaking from Cairo, the latest stop of her Middle East tour, Mrs. Bush told NBC television’s “Today Show” program that, “When we look at our own history we know that we, of course, have not done everything right.
“We started off with a perfect document that didn’t abolish slavery until almost a hundred years later,” she said, referring to the US Constitution. “Women didn’t get the right to vote until almost hundred years ago in the United States.”
“As we try to promote democracy and human rights and women’s rights around the world we have to look at ourselves as well and to make sure that we’re living what we’re saying,” she said.
The first lady’s comments were a welcome change coming from the wife of a US president who usually likes to lecture Middle Easterners about how democracy should be achieved in the region. This candid admission that Americans are not perfect was welcomed in the Arab world, where the United States’ foreign policy is often seen as arrogant and condescending.
The US first lady arrived in Egypt yesterday for the latest stage of a Middle East tour in which she encountered angry anti-American protests in Jerusalem from both Muslims and Jews.
“I’m not surprised at all. I knew how emotions run in this region. I was warmly welcomed by Palestinians and Israelis,” Bush told reporters in the Arab Israeli village of Abu Ghosh when asked if she was taken aback by the demonstrations.
With her latest admission that Americans don’t always get things right, Mrs. Bush has shown once again that she has an independent mind and can speak out on issues and disagree with her husband on them.
The first lady was initially accused of being like a Stepford wife when George W. first assumed office in January 2001. Her quiet demeanor and glassy-eyed expressions fooled observers who were much too quick in writing her off. Little did they know that beneath her kindness and manners were an active brain and a sense of humor.
Her trip to the Middle East, where she has met many women leaders, has generated a lot of attention in the Arab press and among Arab leaders, some of whom would like to see the US include women’s rights in its push for reforms.
Speaking earlier in her trip at the World Economic Forum in Petra, Jordan, Mrs. Bush on Saturday encouraged Middle Eastern leaders to expand women’s participation in their societies as she herself took on a new role as an international goodwill ambassador.
After shying away from the spotlight in her husband’s first term, Mrs. Bush became the face of women taking on larger public roles with a speech to the World Economic Forum conference on the Middle East.
“Freedom, especially freedom for women, is more than the absence of oppression,” she said. “It’s the right to speak and vote and worship freely. Human rights require the rights of women.”
She said there had been “extraordinary progress” for women in the Middle East, especially since the oppressive Taleban were removed from power in Afghanistan.
