The other side of life: Jeb, interrupted

“Don’t endorse yet, Jason.” That’s what my more prudent friends advised.

But I’m stubborn, and there’s something kind of romantic about always picking the right candidate when the rest of the party is wrong. In the contested primaries since I’ve been a voter, I have a zero percent success rate. Remember Jack Kemp? Steve Forbes? Jon Huntsman?

Remember Jeb Bush?

The article was written, tightly edited, and ready for production on 2/17. I even had a clever title, “Bush it, Bush it Good.” Then South Carolina on 2/21 happened. Since Jeb’s campaign started, it had been interrupted: first by earlyflib-flubs, then by Trump’s incivility and finally by itself. So, while he is no longer a candidate, the meat of the endorsement remains. In what may seem an oddly meta moment, allow me to quote and paraphrase myself from the article that should have been about the the President that should have been.

I began with a nod to Hillary and expressed that Obama should be able to place a nominee for SCOTUS. Then, I lit into Cruz and Trump: “They are pernicious snake-oil peddlers whose dangerous rhetoric flows from a fundamental bastardization of Kennedy/Reagan optimism,” I wrote; then continued,“They embarrass me, not only as a Republican, as an American.”

Then I wrote good things about other candidates like Christie, Fiorina, and Rubio who, although each has flaws, would have been acceptable also-rans. I gushed a bit about Kasich’s solid resume and went on: “He, in his words and demeanor, channels optimism: He isn’t unequivocally “anti” anything. The expression of his message is always upbeat and positive.”

After acknowledging a strong field, I had set up Bush as the only best choice. I touted his success as governor: “Jeb over-delivered for the people of Florida. The minority gap in education decreased as performance in reading and math, for the first time truly measured, increased overall; Florida’s high school graduation rates rose; the economy grew faster than the national average; Florida added 1.1 million jobs which was more than any other state (even California, which is twice our size); the state achieved AAA credit rating. Meanwhile he led us through the swirling winds of increasing partisanship and some eight natural disasters.”

I even gave a nod (eerily uncomfortable in hindsight) to Marco:“Let’s not overlook that he mentored and helped catapult the third-most-qualified candidate in this year’s Republican presidential field, rosy-cheeked Marco Rubio.”

How has he spent the last ten years? I answered myself: “Since he left office, Jeb has been think-tanking, advising and living an example of how to move the means of capital toward the promotion of good ends. He’s spent more time obsessing about education and its importance as both a cause and a standalone solution to flagging international competitiveness than any other candidate has, D or R, in decades. He understands that education is the civil rights issue of this generation but won’t pander to those who think that knowledge and skill come without civic responsibility.”

And then, of course, I wrote about issues that affect the LGBT community. A couple paragraphs in their entirety:

The Bush family, Jeb included, has quite unapologetically embraced LGBTs as friends, colleagues, and closest-circle advisors. GHW’s and Barbara’s recent participation in a gay wedding was a carefully orchestrated demonstration that the Bush family has tacitly evolved to accept the new law of the land, replacing postured judgment with love and acceptance.

In Jeb’s own words, following the Obergefell decision, “It is now crucial that as a country we protect religious freedom and the right of conscience AND also not discriminate.” Although the standard Republican approach to issues of constitutional ambiguity is to defer to state hegemony, Bush further argued, “I don’t think you should be discriminated [against] because of your sexual orientation. Period.Over and out.” As to the Kim Davises, “She is sworn to uphold the law, and it seems to me that there ought to be common ground, there ought to be big enough space for her to act on her conscience and—now that the law is the law of the land—for a gay couple to be married in whatever jurisdiction that is.”

I feel confident in asserting that a President Jeb Bush would not work to actively overturn recent Supreme Court decisions. He would not actively push an amendment to redefine marriage to the exclusion of LGBT. He may not have “evolved” as quickly as Hillary or Obama, but is not far behind. Jeb Bush will not reignite the culture wars which have flamed, out of control, over the past seven years under the the administration that should have put much of the old fights to bed. He understands that an educated electorate rife with economic opportunity will spread wealth, help neighbors, and protect the rights of all Americans; he understands, like his family, that (speaking specifically about the June 2015 SCOTUS marriage decision), “In a country as diverse as ours, good people who have opposing views should be able to live side by side.” Classrooms, grocery stores, and playgrounds are where acceptance is bred and flourishes, not in the halls of a disconnected congress or in the marble chambers of nine (or eight!) largely unaccountable jurists.

But, as he’s said, it’s settled, “Period. Over and out.”

Finally, I concluded with an admission that Jeb (true and settled sooner than I expected or hoped) may not get the nomination but that I, nonetheless, endorse him.

Thanks for the classy run, Jeb.I’m not at all embarrassed to reassert that you would have been the best President.

Alas, in your own interrupted words: “Over and out.”