European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                First lady Barbara Bush Here visiting a Home Lor children infected with aids i do exactly what i want to  professional grandmother at the White House by Lois Romano Washington Post ust Days Afulei hrs lady Barbara Bush moved into the White i Louse she summoned hot stall to the living Quai lots to Lay out a simple plan of action i want to do something every single Day " an aide says she iced them let s try to do some Good every Day it s tune to got  Barbara Bush might have exceeded her own goal were it not Lor an unexpected and Welcome hitch the volume of mail generated Iron each of her 40 Solo events was so overwhelming she has said thai at times she fell forced to slow Down in order to catch up in her first 100 clays As first lady she received 35.000 pieces of mail. If judgments on George Bush s firs months in office Are tentative appraisals of the other Bush in the White House ate hardly reserved. Barbara Bush seems to have swept into the nation s collective consciousness a do gooder a Down Home mama and the professional grandmother she just happens to be Well i think i m a fraud she Jovad in a Telephone interview. I be always been the same in her first 100 Days she dished out food at a shelter for the homeless held the hand of a i Tillo boy who said no while lady had Ever touched him before read to minority toddlers at the Library of Congress kissed an aids baby and hugged an aids Induc cd adult sent for drug Czar Bill Bennett so she could Oiler to help and opened her Home to hundreds of disadvantage cd people  would underscore her special concerns it s been  you can t believe i have really loved every minute of in of course. I have always been one to think that you should Lovo your  and for a woman who never much cottoned to the spotlight her aides say she has become particularly skilled at directing Iho glow to am her own objectives i think in has been an Opportunity she said adding  she does t make a Ca Cuta Torl Effort to put the ecu on anything i dry t know that those things arc going to generate a ten Ion but i very Cir Lull part things that need help and .1 it helps that s wonderful Lor me. I m not there Lor wednesday May 10, 1989 self aggrandizement. I m there because they need help. And Don t forget Bush continued. I Don t tool around in the . Government. I leave that to other people. This is the Way i can  during the interview the first lady dismissed the liabilities of her new Job. She said she has t fell that her spontaneity has been stifled but conceded thai in still was a bit Early to judge. I know in will  she said with a chuckle. The first lady was asked if she was unsettled by the discussion at the while House attended by the Bush s and vice president Dan Quayle thai explored a Transfer of Power in the event her husband is disabled. She said she was not. We thought it was a very Good idea to have the meeting she said. I think it made others uncomfortable. Let me put it this Way i would have been be very uncomfortable in the reagans had Hal Meong with me attending. You Don t want to think about it but it s very important to know the ground rules. You ought to talk about  while few of any political Stripe Are willing to make on the record comparisons Between them the contrast Between the White House styles of Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan Are apparent almost daily. During Nancy Reagan s first months in Iho while House she was tagged As a conspicuous consumer who was More interested in $200.000 China and designer dresses than in social causes. Whether she attended a ladies Tea or an Antidrug event people often seemed focused on Reagan s physical appearance irom her cosmetics to her apollos. By contrast when Barbara Bush shows up at any number of events men and women can be overheard applauding her personality. She s the big hit of the Bush  says Larry Sabalo a political analyst and professor at Iho University of Virginia. For one democrats see her As a breath of fresh air. She s less Star struck More sincere like Betty Ford in some ways she does t talk about herself personally but she has the same directness at some Point she May stay much More popular than the president she really enhances him says Paul costollo. Who worked Lor Rosalynn Carter in Iho while House and was Kilty Dukakis press aide last year. Says Phyllis Coelho wife of House majority whip Tony Coelho a Calif ii you close your eyes and listen to her you d almost think she was a Democrat. You just know she cares about the Little  ii we seems satisfying Lor the first lady these Days sources close to her say in has t All been a Rose Garden. For one her recently discovered thyroid condition has taken its toll. While she has insisted thai she never fell better she has allowed that it May be time for her to snarl pacing herself. She told a group of reporters i m Lucky in i get through the Day. I Don t mean i m overextended but i m 63 years old and i need to be babied a  she elaborated nobody asks me to do All these things i do them because i want to. But i have Over scheduled myself. I m not going logo Inlo retirement. I m just not going to in to do 12 events in one Day. Thai s silly.". Also by her own admission she has had to adjust to unrelenting press attention to her and her family As Well As the More structured aspects of her new file. To her dismay for example the while House dispatched an Advance aide to prepare Lor her various slops in Asia last february. When Bush was told by an aide that an aide was in route to Asia she had the person intercepted in Hawaii and brought Back to Washington. According to press reports the a advanced trip invited chaos. Reporters complained about not being properly directed and at one celebrated Stop a chinese Security guard slammed the White House photog Apher against a Wall As she tried to photograph Bush still when questioned Iho other Day by reporters about whether her views on Advance work had changed she insisted they had not. She does have this idea thai she can do things the Way she did them  says a senior White House official and it just can t be for the first 100 Days anyway the first lady has another View. I do exactly what i want to do said Barbara Bush. The stars and stripes Page 13