It is not uncommon for proud parents to call attention to their children's endeavors, but few parents would wish to endure the PR brouhaha recently stirred up by Barbara Bush.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the former First Lady gave a donation to a Hurricane Katrina relief fund with a very specific condition: That her money be used solely
to purchase educational software for Houston-area public schools with a high percentage of Gulf Coast evacuees. But there was another catch: The software had to come from the
Austin, TX-based Ignite Learning, which is owned by her son Neil Bush. Although this requirement is perfectly legal, the PR implications were perfectly rotten. Bush was
named "Worst Person in the World" by Keith Olbermann on his MSNBC show "Countdown" while Andrew Sullivan dubbed the story "Marie Antoinette Watch" on his blog. As for
Ignite Learning, it mentioned the donation but not Barbara Bush's stipulation in its online newsroom - which has not been updated since February (a PR boo-boo unto itself!).