The American people may not be feeling the love for W, but his wife Laura is still popular enough to command a seven figure advance for her memoirs. Book publishers are said to be visiting the White House trying to woo the first lady to pick their publishing house to work with. Laura Bush’s book is sure to be a bestseller and everyone wants a piece of that apple pie served with a perma-grin and detachment from reality:

“Laura is interviewing publishers who are bidding on her memoirs,” one biographer told Page Six. “The publishers are coming to the White House to meet with her and discuss the book.”

Those same literary poobahs see George W. Bush as literary poison for now. “Dubya is going to have to wait about five years,” a top publishing insider said. “He’s so unpopular at this point that there’s no market for any book by him. ”

Literary superagent Mort Janklow told us: “The wives of presidents generally write books that have a greater public interest. Wives usually write from a personal point of view – instead of talking about government policy, they talk about when the dog came to the White House and had to be paper-trained. Husbands usually try to rewrite history.”

Asked how long George should wait before shopping his memoir, Janklow quipped, “30 or 40 years might be good.”

Public relations guru Ken Sunshine, who was Mayor Dinkins’ chief of staff, said: “In time, there’ll be interest particularly in how it went sour. But right now, [Bush] is at such an abysmally low approval rating, I don’t think anybody thinks he could sell two books.” A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found 76 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush’s performance.

Another insider said: “Bill Clinton’s memoirs, published by Alfred A. Knopf, were hugely successful. Ronald Reagan’s were a financial disaster for Simon & Schuster. Bush is probably more of a financial risk for publishers at this point than either Clinton or Reagan.”

[From NY Post]

Maybe everyone is wondering what she’s thinking. Laura Bush has been admired by the public even as her husband’s approval rating dropped to bargain basement levels. A former school teach and librarian, Laura championed education, health and literacy during her tenure as first lady and managed to avoid the extreme controversy that dogged her husband. She did make a few careful statements that seemed to support his policies, but generally does not get involved in politics and just shows up for things looking impeccable and smiling.

Laura accepts her lot in life and plays her role to a T. I doubt she’s going to come out with any revelations or confirm her conflicted feelings about her husband’s failed policies, but people want to know if she has any, and will pour over her words looking for cracks in the facade. She serves as a kind of martyr figure for women who stand by their husbands no matter what. People are wondering how she does it, and want to know if she has enough self awareness to realize the sacrifices she’s made.

Laura Bush is shown on 11/10/08, 11/6/08 and 10/27/08. Credit: WENN