Phil Ammann
Being a younger sibling has its drawbacks. Hand-me-downs, for one. Always living in an older brother’s shadow is another.
So imagine Jeb Bush’s situation. Having two-term President George W. Bush as an older brother — who left as one of the least popular leaders in modern history — a White House run provides a long list of consequences.
No one is more aware of this than the former president, who told an audience in Chicago recently that his could be a “problem” on his brother’s campaign trail.
That’s putting it mildly, says the latest email from American Bridge 21st Century, but Jeb “doesn’t seem to mind.” All while he continues to insist he is his “own man.”
“Far from running from or downplaying the views once expressed by his brother, George W. Bush, Jeb Bush is embracing them — and emphasizing them,” wrote The Washington Post.
For anyone who lived through W’s two terms, the progressives at American Bridge say, it doesn’t make much sense.
It doesn’t even make sense to W, the email says.
“That’s why you won’t see me out there,” W told the crowd. “And he doesn’t need to defend me, and he’s totally different from me.”
Although defending a brother may be admirable, American Bridge thinks that as politics, it is “frankly baffling.”
Jeb is more than happy to run as a “third term for George,” using many of the same economic advisers.
“Because who wouldn’t want advice from the guys who brought you two wars and the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression,” they ask.
It is difficult to be your own man, especially if you rely on your brother’s hand-me-downs.
