The problem with Jeb Bush is Jeb
By NOEMIE EMERY
December 22, 2015
December 22, 2015
Washington Examiner
The myth of Jeb Bush as a victim and martyr has been with us for quite a long time. He was the "smart one" who should have been president, who had been cheated by fate in 1994 when he was unexpectedly beaten in Florida while George scored his upset win over Ann Richards, putting him in line for the 2000 election when his fellow Republican governors were looking for one of their own to support. The perception that Jeb is smarter "has been out there forever," Barbara Bush's biographer told the New York Times recently, adding that Jeb was always expected to be running for president. Barbara described him as "serious," whereas George had been "feisty," like her.
While second son John Kennedy had been a political afterthought until the death of his brother, second son Jeb was the number one son in his family, and on paper at least the indications were present: Jeb was the Phi Beta Kappa who blazed through college in under three years while George was an average student at Yale; Jeb matured early while George worked through issues; George had the family verbal dyslexia, while Jeb did not.
After 2005, when George ran into problems, speculations were heard that Jeb would have been different (and better); after 2008, when the party lost power, articles ran saying that Jeb, if not for his surname, would have been the party's front-runner in 2012. Much of this had been said in an underhanded way to belittle his brother. But it helped to establish the theory of Jeb as a light hidden under a bushel, the bushel in this case being his family. Now the light is revealed, and the family name is the least of his problems, suggesting that somehow in its repetition this story has been gotten wrong.
Since his term ended in 2006, the once very successful Florida governor has committed malpractice many times over, not only alienating conservative voters on disputes over issues but showing contempt for them, viewing them less as constituents to be persuaded than as obstacles to be overcome. Overcome, as it happened, with money — tons of it, raised from people who had given to his family since before1980, now giving to their third persons and fifth runs for president — meant to run over the children of pastors and immigrants, just the right thing to appeal to a country suspicious of privilege that did not want a Bush-Clinton duel again.
Then, like Ted Kennedy unable to say why he wished to be president, Jeb was unable, over four anguished days, to explain what his brother had done in Iraq. He could have said he wouldn't have invaded Iraq if he had known that it didn't have weapons, as the purpose of invading was to find out if they did — and that almost every important politician of the era had agreed that this was important.
He had to (and did) admit that his brother had waited two years too long to correct a failed policy. But he did not say strongly enough that correct it he did — and correct it so much that in 2010 Joe Biden called Iraq one of the success stories of HIS administration, and Obama, in his disastrous decision to abandon that country, said he was leaving behind a "self-reliant and stable Iraq."
Since his poll numbers were high until he started campaigning, can anyone doubt that a forceful, articulate, coherent Jeb Bush would have been treated quite differently? The problem with Jeb Bush isn't the "Bush" part of the story. The problem with "Jeb Bush" is "Jeb."
The myth of Jeb Bush as a victim and martyr has been with us for quite a long time. He was the "smart one" who should have been president, who had been cheated by fate in 1994 when he was unexpectedly beaten in Florida while George scored his upset win over Ann Richards, putting him in line for the 2000 election when his fellow Republican governors were looking for one of their own to support. The perception that Jeb is smarter "has been out there forever," Barbara Bush's biographer told the New York Times recently, adding that Jeb was always expected to be running for president. Barbara described him as "serious," whereas George had been "feisty," like her.
While second son John Kennedy had been a political afterthought until the death of his brother, second son Jeb was the number one son in his family, and on paper at least the indications were present: Jeb was the Phi Beta Kappa who blazed through college in under three years while George was an average student at Yale; Jeb matured early while George worked through issues; George had the family verbal dyslexia, while Jeb did not.
After 2005, when George ran into problems, speculations were heard that Jeb would have been different (and better); after 2008, when the party lost power, articles ran saying that Jeb, if not for his surname, would have been the party's front-runner in 2012. Much of this had been said in an underhanded way to belittle his brother. But it helped to establish the theory of Jeb as a light hidden under a bushel, the bushel in this case being his family. Now the light is revealed, and the family name is the least of his problems, suggesting that somehow in its repetition this story has been gotten wrong.
Since his term ended in 2006, the once very successful Florida governor has committed malpractice many times over, not only alienating conservative voters on disputes over issues but showing contempt for them, viewing them less as constituents to be persuaded than as obstacles to be overcome. Overcome, as it happened, with money — tons of it, raised from people who had given to his family since before1980, now giving to their third persons and fifth runs for president — meant to run over the children of pastors and immigrants, just the right thing to appeal to a country suspicious of privilege that did not want a Bush-Clinton duel again.
Then, like Ted Kennedy unable to say why he wished to be president, Jeb was unable, over four anguished days, to explain what his brother had done in Iraq. He could have said he wouldn't have invaded Iraq if he had known that it didn't have weapons, as the purpose of invading was to find out if they did — and that almost every important politician of the era had agreed that this was important.
He had to (and did) admit that his brother had waited two years too long to correct a failed policy. But he did not say strongly enough that correct it he did — and correct it so much that in 2010 Joe Biden called Iraq one of the success stories of HIS administration, and Obama, in his disastrous decision to abandon that country, said he was leaving behind a "self-reliant and stable Iraq."
Since his poll numbers were high until he started campaigning, can anyone doubt that a forceful, articulate, coherent Jeb Bush would have been treated quite differently? The problem with Jeb Bush isn't the "Bush" part of the story. The problem with "Jeb Bush" is "Jeb."
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