Soon we will need a television series to follow the forced flirtation of Barack Obama with the Bush family. After father Bush, there’s Jeb, ex-governor of Florida and supporter of the position for tough and demanding public schools. This familial seduction is part of his strategy to regain a mild Republican electorate, unrecognizable in a GOP which has drifted extensively into the NO party that’s harmful for the U.S. With Jeb, will it be a happy ending to the Bush saga?
Are the Republicans changing?
Until the 2010 midterm elections, an embarrassed silence reigned in the Republican Party’s aristocracy. Unexpectedly, the ascent of the Tea Party and its stars like Sarah Palin seemed to terrify these barons. Cowardice or pragmatism? Out of absolute necessity, the previous candidate in the 2008 presidential elections, John McCain, was even spotted campaigning in Arizona through the platform of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. Following the cliché, in the background, we see Cindy (either close to tears or nausea) watching the scene as if it were a nightmare…but that’s life.
One election later, with the presidential elections in sight and the Republican Party winning the House but not the Senate, the party’s historical patrons are investing themselves in regaining and reconstructing their image. Having become the NO party, conscious that an election is looming and not focusing on failed projects, they are moving on.
They have also seen the November 2010 polls, which show that Americans are no longer as radical in their judgments of Obama’s healthcare reform and the reduction of the public deficit. Furthermore the rigor is completely failing to captivate them any longer. Even the media of Robert Murdoch’s group is reducing its aggressiveness and Washington is abuzz with the rumor that Glenn Beck’s contract on the Fox News Channel will not be renewed due to today’s challenge to extremism. So things are changing, and justifiably so. Obama requires moderates to continue.
The bipartisan Bush?
In this climate, Barack Obama is moving his pawns towards the moderate and independent Republicans who for the time being can support him in bipartisan negotiations, as they did with the tax cuts in December. And he might just win some votes for 2012 along the way. His closeness to Bush is an ace and it’s a win-win situation with no Bush candidate in sight, and their unambiguously Republican position.
If the Bush family and their Republican world is fully locked into the GOP, nothing is stopping them from being associated with and valued, which shows that being bipartisan is constructive. Since his election, Obama has kept up good relations with the 41st and did not miss a chance to pay him a courtesy visit in Texas or invite him to the White House with the former governor of Florida, Jeb. Obama awarded him the Medal of Freedom on Feb. 16, the highest form of civil adornment in America.
This March 4, he traveled to Florida to meet with Jeb Bush again in a Miami school to encourage Americans out of their sterile status quo which risks paralyzing his education reform. Jeb Bush, the “education governor,” led during his two terms a courageous policy in the education domain with his policies, which include “Race to the top” and “Winning the future,” both resembling and rediscovering in essence the spirit of “No Child Left Behind” in their objective and scope. It’s this bipartisan vision that Obama wants to take as an example, and as the Bush clan are receptive to this idea, this vehicle for image and continuity is justified.
Which Bush will have Obama’s attention next? Barbara has already let her bad opinion of Sarah Palin be known during her interview with Larry King, and Jenna has revealed her positive opinion on gay marriage.
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