First Lady Laura Bush Book Signing

On May 10th my wife, my parents, and I all attended a book signing at the Barnes and Nobels bookstore in Costa Mesa, CA for First Lady Laura. Ever since I heard about Sean Hannity's book signing at the Reagan Library back in March I have been keeping an eye out on local book signing's and I was thrilled to see First Lady Laura Bush coming to southern California! I didn't want to miss an opportunity to meet her and luckily I didn't.


Since Mother's Day was the day before this event my parents were down here visiting so they joined us and we had a great time. While waiting a couple of hours before the event started my mother and wife were talking with a Russian individual who was visiting the US and simply saw the event listed in the newspaper that morning and thought what a great opportunity and was there to meet her. It sounded like he was a real interesting individual and my mother and wife both enjoyed talking with him. My Dad on the other hand was enjoying conversations with numerous individuals in line waiting while I went back and fourth between both of them.


Once the line started moving forward it went pretty quickly. The entire 2nd floor of the store was sealed off for this signing and its crazy how many secret service there were roaming the area, on rooftops, and inside the store itself. They had a full metal detection scanner at the bottom of the escalator which led to the 2nd floor. Once through all the security checkpoints we got to the 2nd floor and wrapped around a circle which led us to the children's book section where the First Lady was sitting elevated on a platform with several individuals to each side of her and one secret service agent right behind her. Due to time constraints she was not allowed to pose for any pictures or personally sign any books but we were able to have a quick chat with her which was nice.


My parents went before my wife and I and I followed my wife. As she was getting her book signed she thanked wished her a Happy belated Mothers Day and said even though you were out of town did you have a nice Mothers Day? The First Lady replied with, "actually last night I was still back home in Texas and my husband took me out to dinner and it was very nice". It was just kind of surreal for us when we heard that because when you think of her husband you think of President or former President and former most powerful man in the world so it's weird hearing "my husband" but that's what he is, just like every other president was and just like out current President is. When I got up to her I simply said God Bless and Thank You and your husband for your service to our country and tell your husband I miss him terribly" and my wife said out loud "and we miss you too" and then we were on our way. She was so incredibly personal and sweet and down to earth and no matter what you say about our former President Bush people loved his wife Laura and she was one of the most admired and adored first ladies we have ever seen and in this day and age and with this current President and First Lady we have in office now, it makes me miss her even more, and especially her husband.

My opinion of Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin has become one of the most intriguing individuals in the world and depending on who you talk to or what you watch you either believe she is a staunch conservative republican with excellent morals and values and who is incredibly intelligent or you believe that she is an air headed attractive Mom from the state of Alaska who is a quitter and has absolutely no clue about politics whatsoever. I have friends who think she is amazing and others who think she has no clue about anything. The following is my take on what I see and what I believe about Sarah Palin based on my own personal opinions. I was given her book "Going Rogue" by my best friend Thuy for Christmas and it was even personally autographed for me. It was probably the single most thoughtful and kind gift a friend has ever given me and although I have not had the time to read it yet I am looking forward to doing so and my thoughts here on this blog are obviously "pre-Rogue" so I very well might have different viewpoints after reading her book. So based solely on my opinions here are my thoughts.

I believe Sarah Palin has many wonderful qualities and is an extremely influential person. She is polarizing to say the least and people are interested in her no matter what they say. When she was originally announced as John McCain's vice Presidential nominee back in 2008 I was skeptical to say the least. I was hoping for a Mitt Romney selection or furthermore a Rudy Giuliani surprise twist. I had heard of Palin through Sean Hannity's radio show so I knew the name but was still unaware of her history as governor of Alaska. I was pleasantly surprised with her acceptance speech and thrilled with her Convention speech and thought she did amazing considering the whirlwind she had entered into. She drew 2.5 million more viewers than Barack Obama and she didn't even have big white roman pillars surrounding her. In the weeks that would follow I would see magazine covers, news articles, and cable news stories attempting to belittle her as "inexperienced" and full of "family problems". The liberal left was concerned more with her pregnant daughter than they were with Barack Obama's racist pastor and his ties to an admitted US terrorist but this behavior from the media was typical but something she never had to endure. The way that she handled the scrutiny through it all was phenomenal to say the least. If John McCain and his advisers would have let her loose a little bit more and free to say a little bit more while campaigning maybe the country would have heard more about Obama and his associations and maybe, just maybe the election results would have been different? That's in the past though so no need to dwell on it now. What's done is done and we cant change that.

When I first heard that Sarah Palin was quitting as Governor of Alaska I was disappointed that she didn't complete her term that she had started and that she seemed to have made that decision quite hastily. In my own personal opinion, she quit so that she would have more time with her family which was a given but also so that she could write her book, go on a book tour, and eventually gain employment with FOX News. Now nobody can fault her for wanting to spend more time with her family or for her wanting to write a book but where my concern comes in is did it have to all happen so fast and how much extra was she truly spending with her family considering she would be traveling all over the place on book tours and television interviews all across the country? While I don't judge her on making these decisions it does make me more cautious of her and her ambitions for her political future.

I respect her conservatism and agree with many things that she does but I do question her dedication and experience when I hear the following, "Palin for President 2012". She undoubtedly had more experience than President Obama back in 2008 and I have no doubt in my mind she would not be making as many colossal mistakes as he is within a years time but I do not believe she is experienced enough and qualified enough to be President of the United States, not now and not in 2012. We have seen first hand what you get when you elect an inexperienced politician to be President of the United States and it is damn scary. Now don't get me wrong, she would not be pushing a pathetic healthcare reform bill, increase the spending like Obama has, and be trying to push a socialist agenda on our country so in that respect she would be head and shoulders better than Barack Obama so if she were to gain the nomination in 2012 I would vote for her in a heartbeat over Obama but it still does not take away the fact that I don't believe she would be a successful President that would be good for our Country and I hope that she does not get the nomination come 2012.

In closing Ill state this. A lot has been made recently about Palin's notes on her palm during a speech in TN and while it was embarrassing no doubt and probably not the best decision she has made considering the amount of attention she was going to have on her for that speech I cant help but remind myself that President Obama once said the following while reading a teleprompter, "I want to Thank President Obama and his staff". Our own President is so dependent on his teleprompters that he will read whatever it says out loud without even thinking twice and if you've ever heard him in Town Hall atmosphere's he utters the words "uhhh", "ahhh", "ughh", "ughhh", and "ummm" more than any politician I've ever seen and I will welcome any smartass remarks about our former President Bush at this time but Ill say one thing, he may have talked like a cowboy but at least he could think for himself and had a spine and stood true to what he believes and was not easily influenced by others. Now that I've gone off on a tangent let me get back to my point. President Obama accidentally thanked himself but few would probably know that because the liberal media would never run that story but Sarah Palin puts some notes on her hand and its front page, breaking news, top online story cover news for a week. Its the times we are living in folks and like I said I went off on a tangent so Ill finish with this. I believe Sarah Palin is unique, interesting, and polarizing in many different ways and I am looking forward to reading her book to learn more about her.