Jeb Bush: Snake oil salesman

Jeb Bush is considering a run for the presidency in 2016. If he does decide to tackle this challenge, it appears his campaign will revolve around his reputation as an education expert and reformer. He will also dust off and retake his big brother’s “compassionate conservative” formula: this time applying it to immigration.

There is no doubt that the former Florida governor has proven to be a talented politician. He is smart, a renowned workaholic, and likeable. As important, I believe, especially in a state like Florida, which republicans must win to have any chance at victory, he speaks very good Spanish.

He is also a master of creating an image by way of perception. Jeb talks the talk much better than he walks the walk. He has a great capacity to sell his ideas by making you see what is not there. I consider him a 21st century version of the 19th century snake oil salesman, defined by National Public Radio as “seedy profiteers trying to exploit an unsuspecting public by selling it fake cures.” Because some would have you believe that Jeb Bush was a great Florida governor.

Touted for his educational initiatives, Jeb accomplished his goals by way of privatization, and the standardization of testing for children. And while he waxes eloquently of less government, he has helped make those around him – his corporate friends, which include family members – very rich, or even wealthier, by making it easier for them to access the government coffers.

As for the accomplishments of his initiatives, here’s what a Palm Beach Post editorial had to say about Bush’s successes: “Former Gov. Jeb Bush has an undeserved reputation as an education reformer. Florida’s recent education progress has come not from implementing Mr. Bush’s policies but from cleaning up after them. … Taxpayers also should reach for their wallets, since the former governor’s new big ideas involve transferring more public dollars to the for-profit companies behind him. … The sort of careless ‘reform’ Jeb Bush advocates will end up with taxpayers fleeced and students and parents cheated. He has a reputation for reform. He has a record of making messes.”

So as Bush travels the country espousing his family’s “compassionate conservative” side, the fact is that his carefully manicured words are just part of a much larger, national agenda whose aim is to siphon money from public institutions into for-profit companies. Of course, without losing sight of very personal ambitions, which include corporate biggies supporting his initiatives.

But I began by telling you that Jeb Bush is smart. And for a run at the presidency, as 2012 showed us, Bush knows that he needs the Hispanic vote if he has any chance of winning. It is why he is tackling the immigration issue early. The tea party types on the republican side do not much like to hear what he’s saying. And Bush knows he also needs part of the tea partiers to succeed in the primaries for his party’s nomination. So it’s obvious he’d rather take the hits now, in hopes, I believe, of tiring them out and convincing them he is their only hope of defeating someone like Hillary Clinton.

And while he battles the negatives on the tea party side, he’ll spend time wooing and performing his snake oil magic on immigrants, many so desperate they fall under his spell.

That’s why I wasn’t surprised to read these touching words from him: “They came to our country because their families – the dad who loved their children was worried that their children didn’t have food on the table. And they wanted to make sure their family was intact, and they crossed the border because they had no other means to work to be able to provide for their family. Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony. It is an act of love.”

Helen Aguirre Ferre, in a Miami Herald opinion piece, wrote, “Jeb has artfully inserted family values into a political issue.” I agree it was artful… but in a smoke and mirrors kind of way.

Any immigration reformer in this country worth his or her weight will always argue that any reform must include a path to citizenship. Bush’s stance on this point is not clear. Originally he said he was for a path. Most recently he’s sided with tea partiers against it. All the while, though, he’s confused most who don’t follow him on a daily basis. I believe it’s all part of his plan.

Or have we forgotten who mentored Sen. Marco Rubio, king flip flopper himself, and a potential Bush rival in 2016?

Along the way, Jeb Bush will have to find answers to the negatives created by his brother’s presidency. The country is still recovering from the illegal wars, false weapons of mass destruction and a disastrous economy – all remnants of George W’s administration. Then there will always be the case of Terri Schiavo. A sad moment in Florida history when then Gov. Bush rammed through legislation in Tallahassee allowing him to rescind a court order and directing doctors to resume life support to vegetative patient Schiavo.

It showed two major Jeb flaws: an over the top Christian fundamentalism and a very mean streak that makes him impose his will based on power.

Finally, Jeb Bush will have to answer to history, and Florida’s key role, while he was governor, in the 2000 election that saw his brother rise to the presidency by way of what many have called a stolen election.

So at this point if you asked me if the “great” label for Jeb is true, I’d have to answer, “yes” – if you are wealthy, white, a friend of his… and can afford to pay for very expensive, private schools.