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.