Rarely in political life does someone accumulate and maintain the widespread acclaim that surrounded Barbara Bush during her most public years.
Her husband survived the not-so-subtle jabs at his having a problem with “the wimp factor.”
But in hyper-partisan Washington, Barbara Bush had no problems making and keeping friends.
Her efforts at promoting literacy were seen as sincere, not just some political gesture to help her husband while in office. She cut back on the Hollywood glitz and opulence brought in by Nancy Reagan and made the White House just another family home.
Policy and activism were not her cups of tea. You were not likely to see Barbara Bush sitting in on cabinet meetings, in disagreement with her husband’s policies.
Instead she focused on being a kind of national Grandmother.
Since her death Tuesday night, the praises have poured in from major political figures, to the quietest of common people. Thanking her… commending her for a life of public service.
But perhaps no single image of Barbara Bush has generated a greater reaction than this:
In 1953, she and her husband lost daughter Robin to leukemia at just 3 years old. After all these years apart... mother, daughter, are finally together again.
And with their embrace, we may finally fully understand why Barbara Bush did not fear her own approaching death... having already experienced the loss of a child... and looking forward to a glorious reunion.
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