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March 07, 2006
Another Bush?
At the risk of seeming grandiose, I sometimes fancy myself a political junkie in the mold of Alden Whitman. Whitman was the New York Times obituary writer famously profiled by Gay Talese years ago. Talese described how Whitman carefully scanned an audience at Carnegie Hall looking for people “about whom he might be particularly curious someday soon.” These, of course, were famous people on whom age and infirmity were gaining.
I, on the other hand, am constantly on the lookout for future presidential candidates. This is not a wholly conscious obsession. It is simply the result of having been an editor in New Hampshire for a long time. Even in the stretch between primaries (too short for you, too long for me), I scout.
Thus I spent part of my Florida vacation last week reading more than I wanted to about Gov. Jeb Bush, the president’s little brother. Jeb has said he doesn’t want to be president. Nevertheless, his name is Bush. He is about to leave the Florida governor’s office after two terms that, by his standards, have been phenomenally successful. He just turned 53 last month, and it is hard to imagine he is ready for the boardroom life, much less a rocker on the porch.
To my good fortune, the St. Petersburg Times devoted plenty of ink Sunday to speculating about both Bush’s political legacy for Florida and a possible political future for him. The writer of both pieces was Tim Nickens, the paper’s deputy editor of editorials.
The commentary “Jeb Bush’s long shadow” showed how far Bush had moved the Florida Republican Party to the right. Its point was that many of his accomplishments would handcuff his successor(s).
The nature of those accomplishments will come as no surprise to those who have watched Big Brother on the national stage: tax cuts, standardized testing and school grading, school vouchers, privatized prisons and tougher sentencing laws, abortion restrictions, a scaling back of affirmative action in hiring.
Nickens’s column inside the paper was headlined “Run, Jeb, run!” No, not for another term as governor (he's term-limited) and (alas) not for the White House. Nickens suggested that Bush run for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Bill Nelson.
The current GOP frontrunner is Katherine Harris of 2000 vote-count renown – or notoriety, depending on your point of view. Among other problems, Harris is in trouble over illegal campaign contributions. Nickens pronounced her “not a credible challenger to Nelson” and asserted that Republicans deserved one. His choice: Jeb Bush.
Bush has shown no more interest in the U.S. Senate than he has in a run to succeed his brother.
But I’m staying tuned. The name “Bush” might not be a golden asset at the moment, but things can change fast in politics. One thing can lead to another, as in two-term big-state governor pulls upset, wins Senate seat, eyes White House.
Posted by Mike Pride at March 7, 2006 05:56 PM
Comments
God help us all.
I think the Jebster would do just fine on that rocking chair on the porch -- chained to a matching chair for Big Bro, and both tucked away in Siberia.
Or better yet, plunk them both down in a plaza in the middle of downtown Baghdad. Rock away, bros.
Posted by: Terry Sheridan at March 8, 2006 08:18 AM