Former First Lady Barbara Bush is disarmingly frank and outspoken, and her statement that her son Jeb Bush, the former Florida Governor, was very well qualified to run for President, but should not, as there have been enough Bushes in the Presidency, is an assertion which will reverberate through the Republican Party, and not for the good of the party’s future!
The fact that the former First Lady said this on the day of her older son’s opening of his Presidential library, with just about everyone knowing that his administration was a near total disaster, is telling.
It is clear that Jeb Bush is smarter, more competent, and would have made a better President than George W, but that is water over the dam!
The fact is that she is correct that a family should not have a monopoly of the Presidency, and that we should not have dynasties, and the reality that the Bushes took up twelve years in the White House, plus eight years in the Vice Presidency, is certainly enough for any family, more than any other family in history!
But when one looks at the potential Republican field of Presidential candidates for 2016, one has to say that, in many ways, Jeb Bush MIGHT be the best candidate the party could field, other than Jon Huntsman, former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China, but it is clear Huntsman has ZERO chance to be the GOP nominee for 2016, because he is too smart, too qualified, too mainstream, too sane, to be chosen by this disaster of a party in 2013!
What is left is Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, Chris Christe, Scott Walker and a few other also rans, and when one looks at this list, it is clearly pitiful for a great political party with a dignified and distinguished history of great Governors, Senators, and even a few Presidents!
So if a sane, competent guy, who can also appeal to Hispanics and Latinos, but sadly has the wrong last name, and a mother telling him not to run, decides to stay out of the Presidential race, then ANY chance of a real Presidential competition in 2016 is totally over, and the GOP might as well concede to Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat who might be the alternative!
I concur in part and dissent in part. I agree with the idea that we had had enough of the Bush family dynasty. But I disagree with the idea that their exit would be bad for the Republican Party. I never was a fan, especially since they have always been opponents of Reagan and conservatism in general. Bush I , dilapidated his Presidency with a tax increase, and brought us “the era of big government is over” Clinton who in the end thank God ended up being more a pragmatic than a ideologue. Then Bush II, even though I mostly approved of his foreign policy, domestically when he had the chance and votes in Congress, was politically unable or unwilling to put forth in practice, even if just on a minor scale, the idea of limited government and together with RINO’s and Democrats expanded government even more. And last but not least Bush II gave us Barack Obama, with his again political unwillingness or incapacity to reign in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their irresponsible promotion and mandating of sub-prime mortgages which eventually was one of the main causes that created the housing bubble and the eventual bust.
So, yes even though I consider them to be good and honorable people, I had enough with the Bush family and their stronghold on the Republican Party.
Now having said that, I do not believe in electoral proscription, so should Jeb Bush or any other member of the Bush family, ever win a Republican primary and become the Presidential candidate I would vote for them over any leftist Democrat candidate in a Presidential election. I will not do, as millions of my fellow conservatives have done every time the establishment imposes a moderate liberal leaning candidate, stay home and not vote, as the base has done with Ford, Bush I against Clinton, Dole, McCain and Romney. The Republican Party will someday maybe learn ( or maybe they know) that they can never win a Presidential election without their conservative base.But that is another issue.