Laura Doubts Bush Dynasty Starting

President Bush's re-election has spurred talk in some circles of an evolving Bush dynasty on the national stage, but first lady Laura Bush says she doubts that will ever come to pass.

"I think that's interesting," she tells CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante in the second of a two-part interview. "I've read those few articles that have been in the newspaper and...I don't see it that way, although I will say there are some pretty talented young members of the Bush family out there, so who knows what their goal will be at some time in their lives?"

Plante pointed out that there's often more attention paid at inauguration time to the first lady's clothes than anything else, and Mrs. Bush has some new designers this year: Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, and Peggy Jennings. "Is this," he asked, "a new you?"

"Well, I don't know about that," Mrs. Bush responded. "Actually, all three of these designers are people whose work I've admired for years. I've bought some of their clothes off the rack in Dallas when I lived there, before George was elected governor, so then, when I had the opportunity to actually work with them, I did that, and it's been really fun and interesting to work with them. All three of them are great to work with. They're lovely people and they have enormous talent, so I think it will be fun. It's a fun and different part for me, since I was not always that interested in clothes."

"I remember," Plante says, "that the last time around, the president was not fond of dancing very much. Has he learned some new steps?

"No," says Mrs. Bush with a chuckle, "but I hope he's gonna be a lot more gracious about it, at least. But, we'll dance, we'll dance at each one of those balls. That's another part of the tradition of the inaugural, is the inaugural dance, and I hope a lot of people, everybody who is coming to be here with us at this inauguration, will have a chance to dance at those balls."

Mrs. Bush tells Plante the last four years have drawn her and Mr. Bush even closer "because of living here in this house and because of living here in these times that have been very, very challenging for our country. We rely on each other, we've always relied on each other, but I think we do more now than maybe even before.

"But both of us have a deeper and fuller understanding of our country" she continues. "We've seen our country's response to challenges. We've seen the response of our men and women in uniform who have chosen to live a life where they are defending our freedoms. We've seen the response of generous Americans everywhere all over our country to the tsunami, for instance, or to the after-effects of Sept. 11, and we really have gotten a deeper appreciation for how generous and how decent Americans are."

The Bush daughters, Mrs. Bush says, are "doing great. "Barbara has been working on the inaugural. She's been working on the youth event at the inaugural, which will highlight kids all over our country who have done something great in their communities, from refurbishing bicycles for children of prisoners to give them as Christmas gifts, or buying turkeys, raising money to buy turkeys for people for Thanksgiving that need food, and I think that will be a really fun event. I know she's probably a little bit nervous because she's been working on this big event the whole time.

"Jenna's gone to work as a teacher, and I'm very, very proud of her."

Plante asked for a preview of Mr. Bush's speech. "I think this inaugural address will probably not be very long. I think it will focus on spreading democracy, the whole idea of spreading democracy," she says.

"We've already seen wonderful (things) happen: We saw millions of people line up to vote in Afghanistan, and over 40 percent of that number of people who voted were women, who had been totally excluded from civic life a mere three years ago. We have a vote coming up in Iraq. We see people who are suffering the threat of violence but are still determined to vote. We saw a vote in Ukraine.

"We've seen a real interest worldwide, starting with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, you know, 12 or 15 years ago, spreading democracy, so I think that's what he'll talk about: spreading democracy. And I think he'll talk about spreading opportunity at home, what are things we can all do as Americans to make sure every American has a chance to live what we call the American dream."