Awakenings

There was a 1990 movie, "Awakenings," about a hospital ward full patients who have been comatose for decades as the result of an epidemic of encephalitis. Robin Williams (in a non-comic role) played the doctor who discovered a medicinal cure, and overnight the patients "woke up." It turned out that the effect was short-lived, but let's hope that part of the analogy doesn't hold up.

Laura Bush seems to be having her "awakening" moment. She's been pretty much out of the limelight for 16 months, until last week when she began her book promotion round of interviews.

I got the first hint of Laura's awakening in an early book review by Janet Maslin. She was struck by the contrast between the easy-going young woman with a bit of a wild side and opinions of her own -- and then the sudden metamorphosis into the frozen smile of the ultra-conforming first lady she became. Laura says it was a caricature created by the press, but it wouldn't be surprising if she did become frozen, given the political need to "control the message." Michelle Obama seems to have kept her personality and her opinions intact as she moved into the goldfish bowl, however.

What seems to be hinted at though is that Laura Bush, in her own right, is a lot more liberal than her husband and certainly than he was as president. And now we're finding out just how true that is.

Not only is the frozen smile gone and the dead eyes now have light in them, but Laura has in recent days:

1. Declared her belief that gay marriage will eventually come and she is ok with that.

2. She has a more liberal position on abortion.

3. And today, on Fox News, she said she thinks Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan is "great." She put it in the context of having more women on the court, but still -- it's hardly the party line.

4. There was an exchange about Karl Rove that hinted at more that was unsaid. Chris Wallace asked her about Rove's statement in his book that he never knew where he stood with Laura. She laughed, said she liked Karl but there was some tension between them. She finally explained it as: "I think he knew I would tell George what I thought."

This can't mean anything other than that she and Rove disagreed at times and that Rove knew that she had a mind of her own and would "tell Georgie what I thought." Obviously, Karl didn't like that. He wanted to control the message.

I do not watch FoxNews, but I did watch a replay of the interview online. I found Laura seeming more like a real person -- and a more likeable person.

Maybe the notorious, hushed-up wildness of the Bush twins, Barbara and Jenna, was an expression of the real Laura Bush; and maybe she can now release her inner wild child.

Ralph