Thursday, March 13, 2014

Can Wall Street convince Jeb to run in 2016?

If you believe the blogosphere, as well as "traditional" media sources like Bloomberg and Business Week, both Wall Street generally, and the financial speculator class specifically are already having a spontaneous orgasm over the possibility of a Jeb Bush nomination.  The headline in the Miami New Times blog puts it as bluntly as needed:  Wall Street Really Wants Jeb Bush to Run for President.

With Christie effectively now out of the picture, the nomination is clearly Jeb's if he, as Mr. Phelps once did, chooses to accept it.  The plutocracy (or that part of it that leans right, meaning the Kochs and Aldeson, but not Soros) has a dream ticket in mind:  Bush-Walker 2016.  It has a resigning ring of predictability to it.

Would Jeb take Big Money's bait, especially if the GOP does well in the 2014 midterms? Republicans did well in 2010, only to have their bought and paid for, but deeply flawed advocate for coupon clippers get clobbered in 2012.  How would yet a third Bush, whose nomination would be bought and paid for by the usual donor suspects, be viewed by the largely non ideological independent voter (meaning the type of voter who can't be sold a third Bush by ravings about Vince Foster and Benghazi)?

If Jeb ran, and was severely beaten by Hillary Clinton (as all national and swing state polls now suggest likely), would a run be worth it for either him, or his family's political legacy?  The smart (which is not the same as the big) money suggests Jeb should take a pass, and let George P. try to sell another Bush in ten years or so.

The allure of donor pleas and blank checks, and the prospect of drawing to an "inside straight" of voter suppression and dirty tricks combined to "steal" the election might tempt Jeb into going for it.  And create the greatest media circus in modern American presidential election history:  Clinton II vs. Bush III.  That has all the hollow ring of yet another Rocky or Rambo flick, but it may be coming soon to a (rigged?) voting machine near you.

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