Our little Laura, was quite the job-hopper...

[SoCalDem]

She graduated from SMU ..summer of 1968

taught at Longfellow Elem (Dallas) until 1969..(summer??winter??..article didn;t say)

moved to Houston

taught at JFK elementary til 1972 (summer??winter?? article didn;t say)

moved back to Austin enrolled at UTA..in 1972..Masters in 1973
(article said nothing about where she worked...if she worked.. during her year there..

moved back to Houston and worked at the Houston Public library until 1974..

moved back to Austin...taught at Dawson Elem til 1977..married * in Nov 1977


Her bio says that they immediately went on the road campaigning, so she must have quit DURING the school year.. He was pretty much on a permanent campaign, so I can't imagine that she taught again..

The twins were born in 1982


Does that all add up to 9 years???

Seems kind of sketchy to me..


She must have practically LIVED in a U-Haul..:)
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:iSxkhJgNPvcJ:moscow.usembassy.gov/bilateral/bilateral.php%3Frecord_id%3Dbiography_firstlady+laura+welch+teacher&hl=en

[kayell]

1. Not that I want to defend Laura the glaze eyed Stepford wife

But that frequency of job changes is not terribly unusual just out of college, especially when you add in getting the Masters degree.

It is bad to leave in the middle of a teaching contract. But be cautious, she may have left at the winter break which wouldn't have been as serious.

I'd let this one die if possible. Unfortunately I think Teresa stuck her foot in her mouth. That doesn't mean I don't ADORE Teresa. I do, I love the idea of having a strong, outspoken, intelligent woman in the WH again. Sometimes outspoken, strong personalities goof, like all of us.

If anything should be an issue, its Lauras doormat behavior, not her early job history.

EDIT: Unless someone comes up with some less usual reason for the frequent job changes than the simple uncertainty or juggling for a better position that many young people go through. There could be one, but than again, is the likely to be a very productive area of research this late in the campaign?

[SoCalDem]

3. I know that people move a lot when they are young.. It was the NINE YEAR

issue..She did a LOT of moving on.. I am sure I rmemebred reading somewhere that she did not like teahcing..and that was why she became a librarian..

There is nothing wrong with either.. It;s just the "holier-than-thou" attitude they take when ANYONE dares to querstion them about anything in their pasts, that irks me..

It seems to me that Laura was very desiours of getting "a man" to take her away from the drudgery of working..

I know many people who absolutely LOVED teaching, and would never have job-hopped that much.. They were very interested in making friends at their school, and working their way up the ladder to get tenure.. 1968-1977, is indeed 9 years, but it seems as if a lot of that time was spent moving around... (Did she leave because she could not hack it as a teacher?? was she not "invited" back??..

I know we will never know the truth, but I doubt seriously that she was the dedicated teacher/librarian she portrays herself to be :)

[kayell]

5. I'm SURE she wasn't the dedicated teacher/librarian she portrays herself

I have both librarians and teachers in my family and friend groups, and I don't think any of them would give up teaching for anything.

But it's hard to prove that, and since many people change careers after they leave college and find that what they chose is not what they really want, not even that is very helpful. For an example only 1/5 of the people who get the major I did (horticulture) are still working in that field 10 years later*. I'm in it 20+ years later, but there aren't many of us.

I suspect Laura wanted the MRS. degree, typical for her type, but also VERY hard to prove or USE.

ADDED: I'm also sure that their reluctance to talk about their pasts, and even more so to face their failings are very suspicious. I really want the truth about WHY Shrub went AWOL to finally get out, and even more now why he was apparently discharged deliberately early to get attention. I couldn't care less about Laura. Do we really think that her early job history will help us?




*old figures, don't know if that is still exact

[SoCalDem]

7. I have a friend with a degree in Medieval History, who is a

supermarket manager...makes about 100K a year.. He's never looked back at his degree..but he's a great partner in Trivial Pursuit:)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. In my teaching career,

I stayed 17 years at one district, and 2 at another (this was after I married and went to TX-couldn't stand the way they made us teach to tests and other things, so I quit).

From what you say, Laura never stayed anyplace long enough to achieve tenure, which is the goal of most educators. Before you get tenure, you can be let go. After you get tenure, it's not so easy to get rid of you, but there is no problem in resigning.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Was all this before or after...............

she killed her ex-boyfriend?

[SoCalDem]

4. after... She killed him in the summer after high school

she went on to college, and his parents went to the cemetary :(

Of course in the bio, he was a "school classmate who was "operating" the other vehicle"...

[screembloodymurder]

8. George made her do it

It was a sign of loyalty.

[cali]

13. I really hate this shit

both about LB's having killed her ex-boyfriend and her job history. Neither has any bearing on the election. Sickening to make a big deal out of either. And THK stuck her foot in her mouth. Her remark is all over the media. I know. I know. It's the media's fault.

[bklyncowgirl]

9. Alot of teacher burnout cases decide to become school librarians

When I went for my MLS I was in with people who were going into library science because the couldn't cope with the kids--though from the short time she worked at Houston Public, she probably wasn't too thrilled with being a librarian either.

No slam on Laura, by the way. She may not have been entirely happy in her career and saw GW, rich, influential and reasonably good looking in those days as her ticket out.

Or maybe it was love--who knows.

[SoCalDem]

10. I am sure it worked for both of them

George was "in his 30's", as was she.. He "needed" a wife..she a husband..

Remember too, that *'s parents made himn break up with a fiancee.. It was even in the papers..announced as an engagement.. so maybe Miss Librarian was a more suitable choice for him..

She did marry into a life on money and leisure, and that's fine..

I just object to the "portrayal" of the "career woman" that she was before *..

The thing is.. people would not look down on her if she had just said.."Hey it wasn't my cup of tea"..and I wanted to be married with kids..not working..

There's no shame in that.. not everyone wants to be a career woman..

Why would she even need to work, once she hooked up with him??




\

[kayell]

12. Totally agree with you there.

[kayell]

11. We have to remember that in the culture Laura grew up in

there would have been limited careers acceptable for a woman. She may have taken the least objectionable of the ones acceptable to her parents. (as I remember that would have been nurse, secretary, or teacher) and later discovered she didn't like it.

Womens Lib made it late to TX, and probably missed some cultural areas entirely, even now. Of course now these people are trying to turn back the pages of history for all of us, not only past the 60s and 70s, but back to the 1660s.

[DemBones DemBones]

14. Don't you know by now that we're not allowed to criticize GOP wives?

It only works the other way -- they get to talk about Hillary killing her lover Vince Foster (but wait, isn't she a Lesbian? Or is she a frigid Ice Queen? We know she was too involved in her husband's work. Note to freepers: Lynn Cheney was in the bunker with hubby on 9/11 and she kept turning up CNN, interfering with others in the room hearing the conference call set up to connect the WH and Pentagon.)

AND make rude comments about Elizabeth Edwards being overweight (cutting her no slack for having undergone the massive hormone doses necessary to have in vitro fertilization enable a woman in her late forties to conceive and give birth to two children -- though they claim to support families. Note to freepers: If Elizabeth were a GOP woman, you'd canonize her as a saint.)

AND attack Teresa Heinz Kerry for her money (never mind that she inherited it quite honorably when her first husband, a Republican senator was killed in a plane crash, leaving her with three sons to raise on her own. Of course, she's also a foreigner and she gets Botox injections. Note to freepers: I'm sure she dyes her hair, too. You think Laura Bush and Lynn Cheney don't? LOL )

[chelaque liberal]

16. You nailed it.

This is a clear preview of what life will be like for First Lady Kerry.

[RivetJoint]

15. What office is she running for?

I forget.

[Trajan]

17. Other than her support of RW 'causes' ...

I have no beef with Laura Bush ....

She seems a decent, if misguided, person ....

George Bush is a complete asshole: Laura Bush is married to a complete asshole .... That doesnt make her a complete asshole ...

Teresa apologized .... She was wrong ...