In Bush family legacy, Jeb will now finish between George W. and Neil.
A two-term, consensus-successful governor of a big, important state. Private-sector success. A Foundation. A respected, national figure. But consolation prizes all.
John Ellis Bush will be best remembered for what he couldn’t pull off: becoming president or even being nominated. Or even looking good in not being nominated. The wrong temperament and the wrong timing. “Please clap” might be his political epitaph.
The case will still be made that had Jeb, “the smart one,” not lost to Lawton Chiles in 1994, he would have been in position to receive the Bush presidential mantle in 2000. That is now being questioned because of his lackluster performance as an unsuccessful, 2016 presidential candidate.
But let’s recall the context of 2000–had Jeb, “the anointed one,” been in the middle of his second, high-profile term as Florida governor–with no less gubernatorial seniority than his older, less-respected brother. The GOP field included John McCain, Alan Keyes, Dan Quayle, Lamar Alexander, Elizabeth Dole, Steve Forbes and an earlier incarnation of John Kasich. It was pre-9/11, pre-Bush fatigue, pre-tea party rage-against-the-machine and pre-reality TV, insult-fest nominating process.
In short it was a different time when the bilingual, compassionate (before Karl Rove thought of it for “W”), wonkish–but hardly low-energy–Jeb Bush would have been better than even money to be the designated Bush, and the one who would top a less-than-charismatic Republican field.
As for the general election, Jeb vs. Al Gore, well, there wouldn’t have been a hanging-chads scenario. And let’s not forget that Gore, awkwardly distancing himself from the Clinton impeachment, couldn’t carry his home state of Tennessee. Jeb would have had his shot.
But that was then. And this, decidedly, is now, when a rusty politician would preside over the fall of the House of Bush and prove that money couldn’t buy political anger management.