Bush recalls the memorable moment of the two who said during the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and their interaction during the funeral of late Senator John McCain in 2018, where he gave her an Altoid, that he was shocked at how people reacted. .
“The American people were so surprised that Michelle Obama and I could be friends,” Bush said in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning. “Americans are so polarized in their thinking that they can not imagine that a George W. Bush and a Michelle Obama would be friends.”
“It was a friendship,” former President Laura Bush added.
In the interview, Bush called on Congress to show the ‘hard rhetoric’ about immigration, adding that he hopes it will set a tone that is more respectful of immigrants and will lead to more policy change.
Bush has released a new book of paintings by immigrants called “Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants.” The former president said the book does not change policy, but added that he is a ‘small voice’ among people trying to change.