Bush’s clumsy campaign comparable to dad’s
AUSTIN — Jeb Bush has moved from presumed frontrunner to a candidate trying hard to gain his footing in a field crowded with quicker-off-themark hopefuls.
But his clumsy campaigning is something of a family tradition, a political liability that prompted ridicule for his father and brother but wasn’t enough to keep them from the presidency.
And he’s countering criticism of his lackluster style in much the same way as his dad did nearly 30 years ago.
George H.W. Bush, after all, was plastered across the cover of Newsweek in 1987 with the headline, “Fighting the ‘Wimp Factor,’ ” a description that invites comparison to today’s questions about whether his son has the fire to lead the GOP to the White House.
The elder Bush’s awkward style included describing someone in trouble as being in “deep doo-doo” and having difficulty expressing what he called “the vision thing.”
It was a style that he acknowledged in typical fashion in that long-ago race.
“People aren’t looking for a lot of pizzazz out there. They’re looking for someone who’s stable,” he said then. ”So I think to kind of suddenly get my hair colored, and dance up and down in a miniskirt or do something — show I’ve got a lot of jazz out there — drop a bunch of oneliners. We’re talking about running for president of the United States. It’s a serious business.”
Strangled syntax
He was elected against hapless Democrat Michael Dukakis before being ousted in 1992 by Democrat Bill Clinton.
His son, George W. Bush, gained the White House after the 2000 election despite a string of malaprops that rivaled his father’s strangled syntax.
He reached out to those “working hard to put food on your family,” made such pronouncements as, “The question we need to ask: Is our children learning?” and asserted, in making the point that parenting is the paramount pursuit, “The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case.”
His election went into overtime against Democrat Al Gore, with the outcome hinging on votes in Florida, where Jeb Bush was then governor.
That was recalled in a new round of jokes when the current candidate unveiled his new “Jeb Can Fix It” slogan, which was meant to give him a new start but instead was widely mocked, with one wag tweeting, “whuuuuut? Is he recalling (his) role in Florida’s voter suppression when his brother was elected?”
The slogan jokes came after Bush missteps ranging from having to backpedal on whether he would have invaded Iraq to a cheery apology to the French for having compared their country’s workweek to that of the U.S. Senate in a flat-footed attack on rival Marco Rubio.
‘Anti-establishment year’
Consultant Mark Sanders, who in 1988 worked for the Texas Victory campaign, saw George H.W. Bush do what it took to win that election — including the infamous Willie Horton ad that slammed Dukakis over the release of a furloughed black inmate who committed new crimes.
“George Herbert Walker Bush changed. He became a tough, strong candidate that really put the fear of God in the Democrats,” said Sanders. While Sanders thinks signs are pointing to mogul Donald Trump being the nominee, he said, “Anybody who wants to count the Bushes out is making a huge mistake.”
But Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said Jeb Bush has a tougher task than did his family in previous elections.
“Unlike his father and brother, Jeb is running in a strongly outsider, anti-establishment year. And Bush is the ultimate establishment insider. That’s the crux of his problem,” Sabato said, even before such issues as “the dynasty problem” and “his brother’s baggage,” including the Iraq war.
Jeb Bush gave answers that echoed his father’s of nearly 30 years ago when asked on CNN about his campaign.
“I’ve got to get better at debating, I guess, or performing, whatever that’s called, and I will,” he said, calling a presidential race “a serious endeavor” that he nevertheless approaches with joy.
Asked whether the country is looking for an “old-fashioned” guy who wants to be fixer, Bush asserted people are “desperate for” just such a candidate.
“I’m not going to win over the punditry class for sure,” he said, “but I know I can win over people that aspire to a better life for themselves and their family.”