Thank you, Laura Bush.

Of all the recent presidents, George W. Bush suffered the lowest popularity and received the greatest enmity, even from his own party members.

Laura Bush knows it is difficult to be the president. You try to do something you imagine is good, and it gets turned around on you.

President Ronald Reagan spoke to America’s schoolchildren. So did President George H.W. Bush. Reagan notably spelled out his vision for tax cuts and self-government. Bush asked the kids to write him with ideas on how he can achieve his goals.

But now that President Barack Obama is speaking to students about staying in school, suddenly it is controversial.

A partisan political conclusion could be made here, but Laura Bush changed the debate Monday during a CNN interview:

“There’s a place for the president of the United States to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren,” referring to them staying in school.

She also said parents should “encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream that they have.”

Good for her.

The fact is, the fierce debate mostly has resulted in more people being aware that Obama was to speak to schoolchildren, resulting in more people watching his comments than would have otherwise.

Laura Bush reminded the country that this isn’t that big of a deal.

Let’s get back to talking about health care, the recession and, oh yeah, two wars.