Everybody hates their parents and wants to rebel against them, right? That's just one explanation for the comments by Barbara Bush junior – daughter of George and Laura – in support of the healthcare reforms passed earlier this year. You remember: the reforms that were basically worse than Stalin's Russia, with provisions for "death panels" for the elderly and ultimate US surrender to socialist Cuba.
The other explanation is that – like anyone with a pulse and a conscience – even the daughter and grandaughter of two Republican presidents realises how utterly awful the previous US healthcare "system" was.
Appearing on the Fox News Sunday talkshow, in her role as president of the Global Health Corps, an organisation that works for improving access to healthcare for the poor in Africa and the US, Barbara Bush posed the very sensible question: "Why do, basically, people with money have good health care, and why do people that live on lower salaries not have good health care? Health should be a right for everyone."
"It may sound like a mission statement from the Obama White House," intoned the Fox News voiceover, with a shot of President Obama signing the healthcare reform bill to drive the point home. "But this is Barbara Bush, the 28-year-old daughter of former President Bush."
Nonplussed by such socialist dogma, Fox News went on to say: "We were still struck by Bush's statement [that] healthcare should be a right for everyone." Cue presenter Chris Wallace asking: "What do you think about Obama's healthcare reform?" Hmm? "That is a good question," replies Barbara:
"Obviously the healthcare reform bill was highly debated by a lot of people, and I guess I'm glad a bill was passed."
Barbara Bush helped found the Global Health Corps after visiting Africa with her parents, and the group – with some financing from Google's charity arm – now funds young graduates to work on healthcare delivery in places like New Jersey, Massachusetts, Tanzania and Malawi.
This isn't the first time the Bush family has shown signs of deviation from conservative political orthodoxy. Recently it was Laura Bush who wrote an autobiography and revealed that secretly she wanted gay people to get married and that abortion should be legal.
There's a stark contrast between Barbara Bush and Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick and Lynn Cheney. Liz spends all her time going on Fox News accusing Barack Obama of destroying America via healthcare reform and terrorism, when she's not defending Halliburton.
