Former President George W. Bush sat down with Today to talk about an unlikely friendship, and a small gesture at a funeral that captured the country's attention. In a wide-ranging conversation, Bush described his bond with former First Lady Michelle Obama and revisited the now-famous moment in September 2018 when he slipped her an Altoid at Senator John McCain's memorial service.
The exchange was brief. The reaction was not. Cameras caught Bush subtly placing the mint into Obama's hand, and the clip spread across the internet within hours. Bush, by his own telling, had no idea.
As The Independent reported, Bush told Today he offered the mint without any grand motive:
"I was kinda teasing her and stuff, and I slipped her an Altoid. Not as a joke, but I thought she might want one."
He added that he tends to get fidgety at long ceremonies. "I get a little antsy, as I'm sure you know," he said. "And I was sitting next to Michelle, that's who I sit next to at funerals."
The line landed with a kind of plainspoken charm that Bush has leaned into more freely since leaving office. He said that when he got in the car after the service, someone told him, "You're trending." His response: "I didn't know what trending meant."
The Altoids moment was not the first time the two drew public attention. Bush and Michelle Obama made headlines in 2016 when they embraced at the dedication ceremony for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The warmth between the Republican former president and the Democratic former First Lady stood out precisely because it cut against the grain of partisan hostility.
Then came the McCain funeral. And three months later, at the December 2018 funeral of Bush's own father, former President George H.W. Bush, cameras caught him offering another mint to Michelle Obama. The pattern was set. Whatever the occasion, the two seemed comfortable in each other's company.
Michelle Obama, for her part, has made no secret of her fondness for Bush. That same year, she described him as her "partner-in-crime" during an interview with Today. A year later, she returned to the show and went further.
"We disagree on policy, but we don't disagree on humanity. We don't disagree about love and compassion. I think that's true for all of us. It's just that we get lost in our fear of what's different."
She also said the pair's "values are the same." That is a generous claim between a center-right Republican and a center-left Democrat, and Bush seemed to agree with the spirit of it. He framed their friendship as a sign of something the country is hungry for.
Bush did not shy away from drawing a broader lesson. He told Today that the public fascination with his friendship with Michelle Obama reflects a deeper appetite:
"It turns out the country is starved to see a White, center-right Republican and an African-American center-left Democrat having fun, and being able to converse, not as political figures, but as citizens."
That is a reasonable observation, and it carries more weight coming from a man who spent eight years in the political arena and took his share of fire from both sides. Bush has largely avoided the partisan trench warfare of the post-presidency years, and moments like the Altoids clip are part of why.
Whether the public's appetite for cross-party decency translates into anything beyond viral clips is another question. Washington has not exactly taken the hint. But Bush, at least, seems content to model the behavior rather than lecture about it.
The former First Lady's public visibility has itself become a subject of speculation in recent months, with observers tracking her appearances and absences alike. Her willingness to speak warmly about Bush has been one of the more consistent notes in her post, White House media presence.
Bush's daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, who conducted the Today interview, shared a detail that suggests the joke has staying power. After the interview, she said her father told her he planned to bring a "crate of Altoids" to the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in the summer.
That event would bring the two families together again in a public setting, and if Bush follows through, the moment will almost certainly generate another round of attention. The broader Obama orbit has remained active in public life, and the Presidential Center opening is expected to draw significant political and media interest.
Bush Hager has also been interviewing other former presidents, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden, for a program tied to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. During that segment, each of the former leaders shared thoughts on democracy.
Bush used the platform to strike an optimistic note, urging Americans to take the long view:
"I would hope people would take a look at our history and realize we're an imperfect nation trying to be more perfect, but be optimistic about the future of the country."
There is something worth noting about why a former president handing a mint to a former First Lady became one of the most-shared clips of 2018. It was not the gesture itself. It was the contrast. In a political culture defined by performative outrage and tribal loyalty tests, a small act of personal kindness across party lines registered as extraordinary.
That says less about Bush and Obama than it does about the state of American public life. When basic courtesy between political opponents becomes a viral sensation, the bar has been set remarkably low.
Michelle Obama has continued to make headlines with her own public commentary, including remarks on social policy that place her firmly within the progressive camp. Bush, meanwhile, has largely stayed above the fray, painting portraits and making occasional appearances that remind voters he exists outside the daily news cycle.
Their friendship is genuine enough. But it is also easy, precisely because neither of them holds power anymore. The harder test of civility comes when the stakes are real, the votes are on the line, and the cameras are rolling not at a funeral but on the Senate floor.
Bush deserves credit for modeling grace under no particular pressure. Whether the political class that followed him can manage the same when it actually counts is the question that a crate of Altoids will not answer.
