Jeb Bush takes cowardly stance in desperate attempt to distance himself from his brother
It’s no secret that Jeb Bush is going to run for president in 2016. The fact that this is looking more and more like a reality never ceases to amaze me. Not because he’s running, but because he’s just another “Mitt Romney” candidate for the Republican party. What I mean by that is that the GOP knows that the rest of the field is going to be comprised of nothing but unelectable right-wing radicals, so they’re rushing toward the “only electable” candidate they can find.
That’s the exact same no-win situation they put themselves in during the lead-up to the 2012 election.
We all know the last twelve years a Bush occupied the White House didn’t work out so well for the country as a whole, so Jeb has already got that working against him. But more specifically it’s the legacy left by his brother, George W. Bush, that’s really going to cast a huge shadow over his campaign.
And rightfully so. They’re family, so it’s completely reasonable for millions of Americans to worry that he might make some of the same mistakes his brother made.
The problem is, Jeb doesn’t want to “talk about the past.” No, seriously, that’s apparently the position he’s trying to take to avoid being linked to the disaster that was his brother’s presidency.
“I won’t talk about the past,” Bush said. “I’ll talk about the future. If I’m in the process of considering the possibility of running, it’s not about re-litigating anything in the past. It’s about trying to create a set of ideas and principles that will help us move forward.”
Sorry, but that’s never going to happen. A part of him running for president is going to be linked to his brother’s presidency – period. If he doesn’t want to talk about that, then he shouldn’t run. Taking the coward’s way out by spouting some ridiculous “let’s not talk about the past” line is pathetic. That’s a cop-out, pure and simple.
But the hypocrisy shown here by Jeb is glaring. The only reason why he’s even considered a front-runner for the GOP nomination is because of his last name. But that’s also the same last name, and family legacy, he’s apparently going to attempt to pretend doesn’t have any impact on who he would be as president.
He can’t have it both ways. He can’t be put into a position to be a leading candidate for president because of his last name, then try to run away from all of the baggage that comes along with it. If he doesn’t want to answer questions about his brother, or his family legacy in general, then he shouldn’t run for president.
It’s really that simple.
But if this is the strategy he’s planning to try to use going forward while hoping to avoid being linked to his brother, he’s in for a rude awakening. All that’s going to do is make him look as if he’s admitting that his brother was a failure, that he’s trying to hide something and that he’s too spineless to stand up for his own family.
(From the: Forward Progressives)
