The Today Show continues to release new clips from Jenna Bush Hager’s interview with Michelle Obama. Obama traveled with Jenna to Vietnam to highlight some of her (MO’s) charitable work. Personally, I don’t expect Michelle to break news on political stories, or come out and say “Donald Trump is a baby-fisted fascist.” MO is MO, and she’s always going to treat all touchy subjects with grace and try to avoid making news. Which brings me to MO’s friendship with George W. Bush. Just a few months back, Ellen DeGeneres got in “trouble” for acting super-friendly with Bush at a football game in Texas. People were really mad at Ellen, and Ellen tried to justify her friendliness by talking about how she likes having friends on both sides of the aisle, etc. People still hated it.

But… Michelle is quite friendly with Dubya as well. They’re always seated together at state funerals and big events. They’re affectionate with each other and everybody loved it when Bush snuck a piece of candy to MO at a funeral. Michelle has spoken before about how much she adores Bush. It’s different somehow, isn’t it? Because MO was the First Lady, and because she’s required to attend these events, and because Bush has always seemed to have a very particular fondness and love for MO. Anyway, Jenna Bush Hager asked Michelle about MO’s friendship with Jenna’s dad.

On Today this week, Obama was asked about it by Jenna Bush Hager, President Bush’s daughter, with whom Obama has been in Vietnam this week spotlighting support for girls’ education.

“I think you’re friends with both Ellen and my dad,” Hager told Obama on Today on Tuesday, before asking how she felt about people getting upset over DeGeneres’ relationship with Bush. Obama replied, “I had an opportunity to sit by your father at funerals, the highs and the lows, and we shared stories about our kids and about our parents.”

“Our values are the same,” she said of herself and President Bush. “We disagree on policy, but we don’t disagree on humanity, we don’t disagree about love and compassion. I think that’s true for all of us — it’s just that we get lost in our fear of what’s different.”

[From People]

I mean, Michelle always knows her audience. She’s not going to tell Jenna BUSH that her father is trash. That being said, I doubt Michelle thinks George W. Bush is trash. They probably get along quite well and Michelle swallows her qualms because she had to do that for eight years when Barack Obama was in office. Still, what is at the root of why the reactions to Michelle’s friendliness with Bush are so different than the reactions to Ellen’s?

“I had an opportunity to sit by your father at funerals, the highs and the lows, and we shared stories about our kids and about our parents. Our values are the same. We disagree on policy, but we don’t disagree on humanity.” @MichelleObama on her friendship with George W. Bush pic.twitter.com/B4ZPVTqBKJ

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 10, 2019

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