The First (Uke-Playing) Daughter!

Unbelievable! According to this story, "first daughter" Barbara Bush (seen at left with twin sister, Jenna) has been seen playing the uke while stumping for her dad's Social Security overhaul program. Barbara has drawn standing ovations for her rendition of "This Plan is Your Plan," to the tune of "This Land is Your Land":

The ukulele Barbara Bush plays is a family heirloom, given to George W. Bush by his grandfather, Prescott Bush, when the future President was a cheerleader at Phillips Academy (Andover). "Great-Grandfather Bush loved to sing and was in the Glee Club at Yale," said Ms Bush. "He and Dad used to sing Whiffenpoof songs together." George W. Bush later reportedly carried the uke with him on his flying missions over Alabama during his stint with the National Guard, and the back of the instrument is autographed by his entire squadron.

Ms Bush stumbled across the uke at Camp David after the November election and was astonished when the President tuned it up and proceeded to serenade Karl Rove with “You’re the Cream in My Coffee.”

"Dad showed me a few chords, and I was hooked."

Barbara's currently hot on Tin Pan Alley standards. "The songs from the Great Depression sound really great on the uke, she said recently, launching into a plunky rendition of “Let’s Have Another Cup O' Coffee.”

Bitten by "the jumping flea" (the English translation of the original Hawaiian), Ms Bush admits that the ukulele has brought out the romantic in her. "There's this guy, James Hill, who is this incredible ukulele player. I have kind of a crush on him, but it turns out he's Canadian. I mean, Grandma Bar would pop!"

Twin sister Jenna Bush has yet to follow her older twin's lead on the diminutive guitar. "I don't really like the stuff that Barbara plays," she noted, "I'm more like into, like, The Ukes of Hazzard (a contemporary ukulele duo with a satirical bent)."

Read the full story here. (Thanks, Otto!)