Jeb Bush Is Still Searching for His Best Political Self

New York Magazine ^ | 9/3/15 | Benjamin Wallace-Wells

[jimbo123]

It has still been possible, late this summer, to catch Jeb Bush on a good day. At these times, his stiffness subsides and the dimensions of his empathy become apparent. His interest in policy seems deeper and his grasp of it more intuitive than that of the rest of the Republican contenders for president. His comparative centrism seems not just tactical but felt. And it seems like those $120 million in campaign contributions did not just accrue to him by the accident of his family name but also because he actually represented a possibility: that conservatism might offer not just a logic for screechy opposition to the country’s basic social direction, but a way of moving with it.

I happened to catch one of these good Bush days a week ago Wednesday, at an education-reform forum outside of Manchester, in which Bush and five of the other GOP candidates for president spent 40 minutes each telling war stories about their battles with the teachers unions and pontificating about the liberations that technology and market competition would bring to schools. Not a very hard topic and not a very tough crowd.

[Dick Bachert]

Hey Jebbie, perhaps this will help?

[Pollster1]

The problem is that when Jeb is himself, he talks about crimes as “an act of love” or says something equally offensive, and normal people can’t stand him. The other problem is he’s a terrible actor and when he pretends to be a decent person, it doesn’t seem sincere.