Former President George W. Bush recalled the lesson he learned following the viral heartfelt moment he had with former first lady Michelle Obama at Sen. John McCain’s funeral in 2018. “And it turns out the country is starved to see a white center right Republican and African American center left Democrat having fun and being able to converse, not as political figures, but as citizens,” the 79-year-old former president said in an interview with his daughter, “Today Show” host Jenna Bush Hager. “And I intend to continue to try to do that.”George W. Bush’s interview was part of the “History Talks” event hosted by the History Channel to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. He reminisced about getting a “little antsy” while sitting next to the former first lady at McCain’s funeral, where cameras captured him slipping her an Altoid.“That’s who I sit next to at funerals, and that’s kind of teasing her and stuff. And I slipped her an Altoid, not as a joke, but I thought she might want one,” Bush told his daughter. “And I got in the car afterwards, and you said, you’re trending.” Bush and Obama’s unlikely friendship grew over the years as the two were often seated next to each other at events. The former president told People in 2017 that Obama simply likes his sense of humor. In a 2019 interview with Bush’s daughter, Obama said that while they have different opinions on policy, “our values are the same.” “We disagree on policy, but we don’t disagree on humanity, we don’t disagree about love and compassion,” she said. “ I think that’s true for all of us, it’s just that we get lost in our fear of what’s different.”Close