Interview with Bush Sr. Speechwriter: From Barbara Bush to the Tea Party

“The Bush period and the approaches we took then, in many respects, are directly related to an era of American politics that came and went.”

On May 1st, 2018, Merion West’s Erich Prince spoke with Michael Johns, a former speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush. Mr. Johns would later become well-known in the early 2010s for his work on behalf of the Tea Party movement. In this interview, Mr. Johns discusses his impressions of the late Mrs. Bush, how politics has changed in the decades between the Bush administration and the Trump years, and the legacy of George H.W. Bush’s presidency.

You did an interview with the BBC on April 17th, and you had some interesting remarks about the need for someone who is president to have a strong spouse. Could you talk a little bit more about your observations being in the Bush White House about the relationship between President Bush and Mrs. Bush?

Any working American in any job is certainly aware of how stressful many occupations can be, but the magnitude of pressure and responsibility that weighs on the President of the United States is literally unmatched. Some of those pressures are obvious, and some of them are not so obvious. The obvious issues include national security and issues of war and peace, ongoing threats to Americans’ security, and the economy. Then there is the less noted obligation of overseeing a vast and complex government which is often moving in multiple and contradictory directions. In and of itself, the management responsibility alone is larger than even the largest publicly-traded corporations and with a constituency that’s understandably impatient, so it’s an immensely stressful undertaking in every respect. Sure, a president might take a vacation here and there, but you’re never really on vacation. These pressures weigh on you 24/7, and they come at you much faster and harder than anyone can appreciate.