Good thing first lady Michelle Obama wasn’t in attendance at the Trust for the National Mall luncheon Thursday. When Ambassador Mary Ourisman, diplomat to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, went to introduce keynote speaker Laura Bush, she made her first lady loyalties clear.
“It’s a privilege to have Laura as the honorary chair representing what can be done here,” Ourisman said. “We are gathered here today and throughout the country because in our hearts, Laura will always be first lady. In our hearts, the first lady of America.”
Bush delivered a sweet address to the 1,200-person crowd, which included a large number of Kate Middleton-type hats and fasteners. (The former first lady wore a wide-brimmed silver hat with her coral dress.) She kept things apolitical, sharing memories of taking drives along the Mall to see the monuments at night, and confessed that as first lady, she sometimes walked the Mall incognito.
“When I first came to live at the White House, I’d sometimes put on a baseball cap and sunglasses and walk along the gravel paths early in the morning, blending in with all the other walkers and joggers,” she said.
While the well-heeled crowd enjoyed lunch under a white tent, toasting to the future preservation of the Mall, a group of ultimate Frisbee players frolicked a few yards away, tearing up the grass.
