Jeb Bush has no degree of separation from his family

In several interviews, Jeb Bush was unable to separate his vision for America from the failed economic and foreign policy mistakes of his father and brother's leaderships. 

Now, compounding the Bush family's past leadership mistakes, there're issues around his wife Columbia. She's unfortunately creating a public relations problem for a "Bush3" White House run.

Defense of past Bush policies are proof of how a potential Jeb Bush presidency would unfold. In fact, Jeb Bush continues to support his brother's wrong minded decision to  invade Iraq. In so doing, he made clear how there are no degrees of spearation between the older brother Jeb, and his presidential predecessors.  

In other words, if Jeb Bush were somehow elected President of the US, the fact is, his leadership would be a retrospective of past foreign policy and economic failures.

Clearly, Jeb Bush  believes he can somehow follow the two George's- his father's and brother's limelight.

Opportunistic timing is often the way to political success. In other words, the timing is totally wrong. Bush is too progressive for the Republican conservative base and he's too close to his family's failed administrations to separate himself from their policies. As a result, in addition to being simply one Bush too many in the White House, the fact is, the older brother Jeb simply can't separate himself from his family's failed Iraq and economic policies.

Politico Reports:

(Jeb "gets" the immigration issue) But, nevertheless, he got a taste of the political piling-on that often confronts presidential contenders last week, after saying that illegal immigration could be viewed as an “act of love” — an attempt to keep families together — rather than a “felony.”

The comment sparked fury among the conservatives who would need to tolerate him in order for him to win his party’s nomination. That immigration remark, along with his “joyful” condition for running for president, raised questions in some corners about whether he’s ready for — and enthusiastic about — prime time.

On the stump, Jeb Bush will likely have to counter questions about his family’s role in U.S. political history. His brother George W. Bush’s poll numbers were in the basement by the end of his second term amid a floundering economy and two wars, although he has seen a recent revival in his approval ratings.

And his mother, Barbara Bush, has even said she isn’t keen on seeing Jeb in the White House, though she later walked that back.

The troubles encountered by Jeb Bush’s immediate family also have received significant press coverage over the years.

In 1999, Columba Bush —then the first lady of Florida — catapulted into the spotlight when it became clear that after a trip to Paris, she declared $500 worth of goods at customs even though she actually made close to $20,000 in purchases. She apologized and paid significant fines, but the issue stayed in the news for days.

“I can assure you it was a difficult weekend at our house,” Bush said of his wife at the time. “She knew that what she did was wrong and [she] made a mistake.”

He noted that Columba “is uncomfortable with the limelight, which is why I love her.” She further shied away from the press after that incident, according to contemporaneous accounts. And donors who’ve seen her within the last year describe her as still extremely withdrawn in political settings.

In 2002, Bush’s daughter Noelle —then in her mid-20s— cropped up in media reports for months after being arrested on drug-related charges. Columba Bush said in a Washington Post story the following year that “absolutely” her daughter’s situation was worsened by coming from a famous family. Columba Bush went on to speak out publicly against drug abuse.

And in 2005, Jeb Bush Jr., then 21, was arrested in Texas on Austin’s rowdy Sixth Street for public intoxication and resisting arrest. (He is now a father and a champion of immigration reform).

“His family concerns are well-documented, relatively public, the struggles his daughter has had, and he dealt with them as governor and since then,” said Tony Fratto, who served as a deputy press secretary to George W. Bush, among other roles in the administration. “How a race impacts your family, whatever their conditions are, a lot of the same issues he may be considering are the same as lots of other [potential] candidates.”

Jeb Bush has support from at least one prominent member of his immediate family: donors say that his son George P. Bush is among his dad’s strongest 2016 advocates. When the younger Bush — who is running for land commissioner in Texas — encounters people expressing enthusiasm about a Jeb presidential bid, he urges them to encourage his father directly to get into the race.

If Bush were to run, he could face a range of possible 2016 candidates —from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, son of libertarian icon Ron Paul — who also have relatives in the public eye.

The difference between Bush and other potential GOP candidates, Fratto said, is that the Florida governor knows what he would be getting himself into if he chooses to run, after seeing the process up close with his father and brother.

Bush and Clinton, a former first lady and the leading Democratic presidential possibility, “have been heavily scrutinized for decades,” he noted. “You have two families here where it’s hard to come up with any more secrets about them. In a way it’s a luxury that they can go into a race without worrying about what kinds of things people might try to dig into their past and unearth…If Jeb runs, and if Hillary runs, neither is going to be shocked at that level of critical commentary, scrutiny and investigation into their pasts.”

Politically speaking, said Cardenas of the American Conservative Union, “if there’s anyone who’s been battle-tested in terms of scrutiny, it’s Jeb Bush.”  (Julie's note- Hello?  How in the world has Jeb Bush been "battle tested"?  He never served in the military or served as Secretary of  State. In fact, Jeb never held an international leadership position. Remember, his brother George2 was never outside the US before he was elected president. Guess what?  George Bush thought he was bringing freedom to Iraq because, frankly, he had no idea what was going on in that nation. George 2 was motivated to save his father's reputation from being decimated for his failure to bring down the Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein.)

“He has been fully vetted nationally. That augurs well for those who would consider supporting him if he does run for president,” said Cardenas, who has known the Bushes for 35 years. “In other words, there’s no potential for crisis.”  (Julie's note- this reporting in beneath Politico's dignity. Jeb Bush is not nationally vetted. On the contrary, he has lived his political career in the shadow of his father and brother. George 2 was vetted through his father's filter. Indeed, many voters truly believed they were voting for George 1 when it was, in reality, his son who was running!)

It's difficult to understand why Jeb Bush thinks he can run for US President. Maybe he's delusional enough to believe he can inherit the job. Nevertheless, Jeb has an uphill political climb, given the heavy baggage he carries from his family's failed policies and now dealing with his wife's reputation for skirting selective rules.

Timing is just not right for Jeb Bush. Complicating his bad timing, there's simply no degree of separation between Bush and family's failed political leadership. Americans just can't endure another Bush presidential administration. 

There's too much bad karma in the Bush legacy.