Jenna Bush phones home

What happened

Ellen DeGeneres convinced Jenna Bush to call her father during an appearance on Degeneres’ TV talk show on Wednesday. “They’re going to kill me,” the seemingly nervous first daughter said. “I’m going to be in so much trouble.” Once on the line, the President asked, “How’s my little girl doing?” President Bush then said he wasn’t angry about the call, and added, “I do want to say Merry Christmas to your audience, and I want to tell my little girl I love her.” (AP)

What the commentators said

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Why on earth did the President of the United States answer that call? said the blog TMZ.com. “Isn’t that guy too busy to talk on the phone?” Doesn’t he have more important things to do, like “trying to run the country”?

Does anyone really believe that this whole thing wasn’t planned? said the blog Defamer. The President assured “the puckish Jenna” he wasn’t “angry about her springing a ‘surprise’ call on him in the middle of a nationally televised TV program.” Yeah, OK. Next thing you know, they’ll be reenacting their “cute father-daughter routine” on Live with Regis and Kelly.

Come on, said the blog Right Celebrity, that call between George W. and Jenna did seem spontaneous. It was really “funny and endearing,” and it showed that—deep down—“the President is a softy.”

You’ve really got to hand it to Ellen, said Charles Winters in the blog Gay Socialites. Getting Jenna to call her dad was really "creative." Because let’s face it: “Would President George Bush ever sign up for an interview with” an “openly gay talk show host?"