Featured Image Credit: David Hume Kennerly via Bank of America/Getty Images
Topics: Michelle Obama, Politics, US News
Britt Jones
Topics: Michelle Obama, Politics, US News
George W. Bush has finally explained the viral moment he was seen slipping former first lady Michelle Obama something during a funeral, leaving people to be shocked at their closeness.
It can be hard to see two people on different sides of the political spectrum be civil, or even kind to one another after witnessing the carnage of election campaigns and arguments.
But Bush and Obama have shown it’s not only possible, but also wholesome too.
The pair have been spotted a couple of times together at functions, with a notable one being at John McCain’s funeral in 2018 in September.
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After the processions, Bush went on to reveal that it seemed to have caused a wave on social media, as he sat down to talk to his daughter, journalist Jenna Bush Hager, for a TODAY special for the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary.
"I get a little antsy, as I’m sure you know. And I was sitting next to Michelle, that’s who I sit next to at funerals," joked Bush, as he referenced the protocol of having a former president sit beside a former first lady (Obama) for official events.
"I was kinda teasing her and stuff, and I slipped her an Altoid. Not as a joke, but I thought she might want one," he continued, finally explaining what he’d given her during the funeral.
People online have found his hilarious, as it looked like he was telling her about her seemingly bad breath, with one person writing on X: “Bush just wanted mints and peace.”
Another wrote: “So George W basically suggested to Michael Obama that [s]he had bad breath without actually saying it.”
According to Bush, this moment wasn’t something he thought would start so much talking online, as he told Jenna: "And I got in the car afterwards and you said, 'You’re trending’. I didn’t know what trending meant."
However, he went on to reveal that people may have been so shocked because they aren’t used to political figures from different parties being pally pally.
"It turns out the country is starved to see," he said, "a white center right Republican and an African-American center left Democrat having fun, and being able to converse, not as political figures, but as citizens."
I mean, have you seen the picture of the pair at the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2016? Adorable.
Anyway, Obama opened up with TODAY about the moment too just months after it happened.
“President Bush and I, we are forever seatmates because of protocol, and that’s how we sit at all the official functions,” she said.
“He’s my partner-in-crime at every major thing where all the ‘formers’ gather. So we’re together all the time.”
“I love him to death,” she added. “He’s a wonderful man, he’s a funny man.”