Our political Quote of the Day comes from former Florida Republican Jeb Bush, brother of you-know-who, who told the New York Times that a big Republican victory will not be a validation of the Republican Party but a vote against a “massive overreach” by the Democrats and disgust with politicians and their inability to get results that proved politically disastrous.
Bush — sounding more and more like the kind of (old) mainstream and non Tea Party Republican that appeals to voters who may not listen to talk radio or worship Glenn Beck — said the GOP is going to have to prove itself if it regains a big chunk of the reins of power as expected on Tuesday:
“The looming victories for Republican candidates next Tuesday is not a validation of the Republican Party at all,” former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said in an interview. Instead, he argued, they would reflect “a repudiation of the massive overreach” by Mr. Obama and Democrats and “disgust with the political class” for its failure to cooperate and deliver results.
“It could create a middle ground,” Mr. Bush concluded. “Or it could create a dismemberment of our political parties.”
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, reflecting the fervor of his party’s base, recently declared that “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
But former Governor Bush said Republicans must make clear that their top priority is increasing employment and economic growth. In particular, he advised Republicans to seek common ground with Mr. Obama and Democrats on trade and energy policy.
However, this may be hard to do with some members of the Tea Party movement, echoed by some key GOP politicos, vowing that there will be no compromise with the Obama administration at all.
And Bush sees the political scene as ripe for yet another development:
What’s clear, after Republican defeats in 2006 and 2008 and Democrats’ travails this year, is that both parties remain at risk so long as Americans suffer from high unemployment and weak economic growth. As the political world begins looking ahead to the 2012 elections, that means the widest opening for an independent candidacy since Ross Perot’s 1992 campaign.
“I think it’s possible,” Jeb Bush said. Meantime, he added, just as Mr. Obama has hit “the reset button” on foreign policy endeavors, “We should maybe try to reset the political climate in Washington.”
Do I sense Michael Bloomberg smiling?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.