Nancy Reagan chides Obama, then charms capital

Washington - One day she wore red, the next it was white. US President Barack Obama (R) walks with former first lady Nancy Reagan (L) before signing the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 02 June 2009. EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS

US President Barack Obama (R) walks with former first lady Nancy Reagan (L) before signing the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 02 June 2009. EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDSNancy Reagan, the 87-year-old widow of the late president Ronald Reagan, still knows how to charm the public spotlight - and how to gently chide a president, even one who wasn't her husband. On Wednesday, her 'white' day, she was on Capitol Hill for the unveiling of a statue of her husband in the Congress building. Surrounded by Republican stalwarts, she wiped away a few tears over the words of praise of the Republican's 1981-1989 presidency. On Tuesday, she wore red to the White House, where she had what was billed as a kiss and make-up session with US President Obama just hours before he departed for his historic visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Obama had invited her to be present as he signed a proclamation establishing the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission. Reagan, whose 2004 death following years of suffering from Alzheimer's, would have turned 100 in 2011. But there was another signing ceremony she would liked to have been invited to at the White House - the March event when Obama reversed an eight-year long government block on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. On the day before she arrived in Washington from her California home, Vanity Fair magazine published excerpts of an interview in which she said she felt Obama had missed an opportunity by not inviting her. 'I would have gone, and you know I don't like to travel,' she told Vanity Fair. 'Politically it would have been a good thing for him to do. Oh, well, nobodys perfect. He called and thanked me for working on it. But he could have gotten more mileage out of it.' As she nursed her ailing husband, Nancy Reagan moved to the forefront of the push for stem cell research, which holds out hope for cures of such diseases as Alzheimers. Tossing aside party loyalty, she took a strident stand against former president George W Bush who put in place the ban. Any hard feelings over the omission appeared to have disappeared, however. As Obama signed the proclamation, Reagan stood next to him and even quipped: 'Oh, you're a lefty?' - just, apparently, like her late husband.