If Jeb Bush wants the GOP nomination
by Jordan Cooper
The truth is hard to handle. It’s easy to get disconnected from reality. So for former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to win another election, he has to objectively face the American people. He must remember what went wrong in his loss to Governor Lawton Chiles. He cannot forget his Dad served under the uber-popular Reagan and that Lee Atwater paved a smooth path for him to go from a to b in politics. Also he must remember the controversy behind the 2000 recount and the Supreme Court’s action. In addition, he must remember his brother put the U.S in two wars and that voters are reluctant to change their leaders during wartime.
Fast forward the American narrative to 2012 with Mormon multi-millionaire Mitt Romney securing the nomination. Romney was able to claim some similar achievements to Jeb’s. For example: Massachusetts being number one in education during his term with a 4.7 percent unemployment rate. Moreover Romney created a
healthcare plan similar to Obamacare and had good rapport with all legislators.
We can’t say all those things about Jeb Bush. Besides, the real reasons Romney lost were his flip flopping on abortion, shifting on gay rights, dubious business deals, and lack of expression for a short term fiscally sound plan to boost the economy.
Jeb can improve from where Mitt left off. He can detail how his education initiatives can solve the economic crisis. Next he can tell voters how the stimulus devalues our currency and negates the legislation’s potential job creation. Then, on social issues, he needs to express the financial, personal, and possible moral obligations of decisions. Such as the time and cost needed to provide reasonably to a child. Also, he needs to allow Americans to decide on gay rights based on their faith, traditional societal definition of marriage, and if two same sex people should be provided a marriage license under our legal system rather than just legal tax recognition.
On the other hand there hasn’t been a Catholic president since JFK and at least four candidates in the presumptive GOP field are Catholic. Florida and Louisiana have a significant number of Catholics and voters will notice that Governor Bobby Jindal is more outspoken about his religious transformation and is an earlier convert to Catholicism than Bush. This might not go over well with conservative voters in South Carolina and Iowa — the states with early GOP primaries. Still, he should be fine as long as voters know he’s reading from the same holy book they are.
Nonetheless Jeb must challenge people to ponder how they think, act, and live differently than their immediate family. This will be crucial in making voters feel better about considering him for president. Next, he must address his signature on the stand your ground laws and note the practicality of it within the minority community. For instance, he can cite his toughness on violent crimes and indicate George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case may have been charged with aggravated assault if it had been put in the jury instructions — but note that he doesn’t feel Zimmerman committed a civil rights violation. The incident could be an issue in the next election.
However, he must not allude to anything that is similar to raising taxes and he must enlighten people about community or faith based initiatives instead of government services. Voters are already looking for the next moderate Republican for the next election. Sadly, he faces obstacles in Florida from GOP Charlie Crist and Miami-based DNC Chair Congresswoman Schultz. Crist is still popular and would have won if Congressman Meek wasn’t influenced by Michael Steele’s genius southern strategy. In fact, Crist can say he has already said long before Bush that the GOP needs to be more inclusive and knows diversity due to his heritage. Also, Governor Jeb Bush said he liked the way Jon Huntsman Jr. was talking about his policies and Crist favors Huntsman in many ways.
So Bush must focus on how his education achievements are applicable, how he could improve the conservative brainchild of Obamacare, and how he would overhaul the tax code. For example, it should seek cost benefit analysis, job creation outlooks, and revenue application assessment to our tax code. It should acknowledge that we do have the highest corporate tax rates in the world and need to find a way to keep our seniors financially secure. This would be a comprehensive way for us to see which taxes really work and which tax breaks don’t.
Above all, Jeb Bush has a lot to think about. He must do what is right for America — not what the pressurized arena of politics wants.
Jordan Cooper was Director of Youth Outreach for the Perry for President campaign in 2012, Constituent Correspondent for Governor Nikki Haley in 2011, Special Assistant for Lt. Governor Andre Bauer in 2010-2011, and a co-chair for the Bauer for Congress campaign in 2012. He was a campaign co-chair and leader of the Black coalition for the Jindal for Governor campaign in 2003. He is a senior at the University of South Carolina-Columbia and was recently has been accepted to numerous law schools.