Michelle Obama in an interview early Thursday described former President George W. Bush as her “partner in crime” during every official function, explaining the former president handing her a cough drop at Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) funeral.
“I didn’t realize at the time that anybody noticed what we were doing,” the former first lady told NBC’s “Today” show.
“President Bush and I are forever seat mates because of protocol; that’s how we sit at all the official functions,” Obama said. “So he is my partner in crime at every major thing where all the formers gather.”
“I love him to death,” she said of the former president. “He’s a wonderful man. He’s a funny man.”
{mosads}”And it was a simple gesture,” she said, regarding the moment when Bush handed her the cough drop, which went viral.
“He was getting a cough drop from [his wife] Laura and I looked over and said, ‘Hand me a cough drop,'” Obama explained. “And he was like, ‘Oh, ok.'”
“And I will add that they were old cough drops,” she said, noting that they were still in a White House box.
“And I was like, ‘How long have you had these?'” Obama said. “They said, ‘A long time. We got a lot of these.'”
She also stressed the bipartisanship displayed in the exchange between the Democratic former first lady and the Republican former president.
“Party doesn’t separate us. Color, gender, those sort of things don’t separate us.”