New faces, please

From The New York Times:

MIAMI, Jan. 1 — When the same old irksome question popped up recently at one of his final public events here, Gov. Jeb Bush, addressing Spanish-speaking reporters, gave an atypically dramatic answer: “Yo no tengo futuro,” or “I have no future.”

His words set off round-the-world buzz, with The Daily Telegraph of London going so far as to call them “a recognition by the Bush family that their dynastic reign in American politics is drawing to a close.”

But in fact, the question lives on. Mr. Bush’s spokeswoman said last week that he made the comment jokingly, and when asked about it later in an e-mail message, Mr. Bush himself replied, “I was misunderstood by a reporter.”

Of course Jeb is thinking about running for president. He has been an excellent governor of Florida. Unlike his brother and father he is a genuine conservative and he has even more appeal to Hispanic voters, the new largest minority, than George W.

The main drawback to a Jeb in '08 run is his name. The American public has seen two names figuring prominently in American politics for the last 27 years. Bush and Clinton.

Ever since George H W Bush tried for the Republican nomination for the 1980 election and wound up Reagan's running mate there has been a Bush on the ticket in every presidential election except one. And ever since Clinton finished his second term and began to devote his time to managing his wife's career every campaign season has had Hillary haunting it like Marley's ghost.

The American people have grown as tired of Bush vs Clinton as the English of the Fifteenth Century must have been of Lancaster vs York. We are ready for a change and if the parties try to force another Bush or Clinton down the public's throat next year the result will be an electoral projectile vomit that will make McGovern's loss to Nixon look like a damn close thing.