C’mon, Jeb Bush will never be president
It’s no exaggeration to say George W. Bush is more responsible than any other single individual for the Republican Party’s current dismal standing. When Bush took office, about as many Americans identified as Republicans as identified as Democrats. By the time he left, Democrats enjoyed a roughly 10-point lead. When Bush took office, Americans ages 18 to 29 were split evenly between the two major parties. By the time he left, Democrats enjoyed an advantage of 19 points. To grasp how excited Democrats would be to run a Clinton against a Bush in 2016, you need only remember that Bill Clinton gave the strongest speech at the 2012 Democratic convention, while at the 2012 Republican convention, George W. Bush didn’t speak at all.
That’s why Jeb Bush will never seriously challenge for the presidency—because to seriously challenge for the presidency, a Republican will have to pointedly distance himself from Jeb’s older brother. No Republican will enjoy credibility as a deficit hawk unless he or she acknowledges that George W. Bush squandered the budget surplus he inherited. No Republican will be able to promise foreign-policy competence unless he or she acknowledges the Bush administration’s disastrous mismanagement in Afghanistan and Iraq. It won’t be enough for a candidate merely to keep his or her distance from W. John McCain and Mitt Romney tried that, and they failed because the Obama campaign hung Bush around their neck every chance it got. To seriously compete, the next Republican candidate for president will have to preempt that Democratic line of attack by repudiating key aspects of Bush’s legacy. Jeb Bush would find that excruciatingly hard even if he wanted to. And as his interviews Sunday make clear, he doesn’t event want to try.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Never agree with Beinfart except for this…
katy on March 11, 2013 at 8:28 PM
How’s ’bout the other fat guy?
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on March 11, 2013 at 8:28 PM
Yeah, he wants to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life. Ahem.
Fallon on March 11, 2013 at 8:29 PM
Maybe Jeb should change his name to Jebback Hussein Obushma.
So many idiots out there, it might work.
profitsbeard on March 11, 2013 at 8:29 PM
That trick only works if the idiot’s desire is a left-winger.
Jeb has as much chance of being president as Alan Keyes.
Warner Todd Huston on March 11, 2013 at 8:31 PM
No, it is an exaggeration you gapped toothed toilet bug..
I’d give more credit to unhinged liberal #&3ktards like you in the media.
If you a$$holes spent even 5% of the time covering Oblowhole’s real transgressions as you did hyperventilating about Bush we’d have something wouldn’t we…
Here it is 4 years later and you sorry a$$ is still bringing him up…
BigWyo on March 11, 2013 at 8:53 PM
idiots? you want idiots? we got idiots…Guess who’d goin back to north korea
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/11/world/asia/north-korea-kim-rodman/index.html
friends…hands across the water.
r keller on March 11, 2013 at 9:01 PM
It doesn’t matter. The republican will lose, we all know it. The voting populace has changed. Registered voters always tracked more dem than Likely voters. Now the registereds vote! And it will be easier than ever to vote in 2016. And if you think conservatives were dismayed with Romney, just wait to see who gets dragged over the GOP convention this time!
So, who’s gonna be the dem nominee? Michelle wouldn’t surprise me, neither would Biden.
God help us.
happytobehere on March 11, 2013 at 9:05 PM
i agree with the article to an extent. W failed miserably in leadership. He is not a leader, and let his party hang themselves. He provided no successor, no arc of governance. He failed terribly in SS reform…NCLB was not good.
he was a handmaiden for shrewd leftist, like teddy. He was short sighted, and perfectly happy to brag about homeownership before we hit the iceberg.
Greenspan had a major hand in our problems, but the R party was to dense to know…W and the Rs thought that the punch bowl would be forever. And so the left will be in power for a while. Yes, W failed
and Jeb is just doing a book tour.
r keller on March 11, 2013 at 9:09 PM
If Beinart is right the beer/food treat’s on me.
———
John Ellis “Jeb” Bush – Juan Elián Arbusto is more like it.
Schadenfreude on March 11, 2013 at 9:18 PM
I don’t think W lacked leadership ability. It’s just that he believed things that were false.
Some children should be left behind. Freedom is not the longing of every human heart, actually that longing is rather rare. Islam is not the religion of peace. Homeownership is not in and of itself a virtue. The job of government does not include being there when someone is “hurting”.
happytobehere on March 11, 2013 at 9:26 PM
Other than Karl Rove.
cptacek on March 11, 2013 at 9:40 PM
+ a million
Lanceman on March 11, 2013 at 9:45 PM
He’s right. Bush’s dismal presidency paved the way for Obama.
Tasha on March 11, 2013 at 10:23 PM
Freedom is the longing of every human heart, but we can’t save everyone, and it hurts to try.
Homeownership is a sign of virtue, not the cause.
MetaThought on March 11, 2013 at 11:57 PM
This is not true. People are desperately afraid of freedom. You’re confusing freedom with The Good Life. Most people have no desire for freedom at all. They want to be happy and probably somewhat rich, they want their children to be happy and somewhat rich. Others want their neighbors to be no more happy or rich than them. Some want to punish people for being richer than them. But very few are actually interested in freedom.
It turns out that people that live under horrible dictatorships live horribly. That doesn’t mean they desire “freedom”, they just don’t want their lives to completely suck.
Freedom is scary. Most people want to be taken care of. The American founding is amazing but it doesn’t reflect some natural desire of all of humanity. It’s a noble and powerful experiment. But it was written and created by a very small subset of the population. It is not the “longing” of every human.
Would people rather live in America than a 3rd world hellhole? Of course. But if you could give them our stuff (running water, medicine, iPads, expansive homes, air conditioning, everything) and not include “freedom”? I’m guessing most would just stick with what they know.
Besides, we basically voted for what I described…twice in 8 years.
happytobehere on March 12, 2013 at 12:21 AM