Jeb Bush may want to run for US president, but do US voters really want him to?
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Version 0 of 1. Name: John Ellis Bush, hence "Jeb". Age: 61. Appearance: Plump regional manager of a leading chipboard supplier. Actual job: Former Florida governor. Wasn't he George W Bush's younger brother? He still is. And wasn't he also governor of Florida in 2000 when the state, through a series of irregularities in voter registration, ballot design and ballot counting, caused his brother to be elected US president, probably incorrectly? Yes, but there's no evidence he caused all that on purpose. Thereby precipitating the war on terror, Guantanamo Bay, the Iraq war, the CIA's rendition and torture programmes, mass state surveillance and the decline of US prestige, not to mention setting a precedent for other transgressions of international law such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine? Yes, I suppose so. And wasn't he also working at Lehman Brothers when it collapsed in 2008, setting in motion the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression and almost capsizing the global economy? He was. Although I don't think it's fair to blame him for all of this. Well I'm not letting him mend my boiler. That's all I'm saying. I don't think your boiler is in his plans. In fact he might be planning to stand … Oh God … as the Republican candidate … Oh no … in the 2016 US presidential election. I give up. Speaking to an audience in Dallas on Sunday evening, he admitted that he's considering a run. "I'll make up my mind [by] the end of the year," he said, adding that he spends "every day trying to avoid having to think about it". You mean we're in for Bush 3: Bushiest? Actually he's much less Bushy than his brother. Though he is a devout Catholic who intervened to prevent the death of Terri Schiavo (yet also approved numerous state executions during his time as Florida governor), Jeb takes a compassionate line on immigration and hopes to moderate the excesses of the Tea Party. Surely the US doesn't want to vote for another Bush? No. Polls suggest they don't. But if he's up against another Clinton, they might think differently. Do say: "Why don't Americans just try a monarchy instead?" Don't say: "They did, and they didn't like it. Remember?" |