No more games: Jeb Bush set to officially enter race for the White House

U.S. media say Jeb Bush has been pretending he’s only thinking about running for president while raising tens of millions of dollars preparing to do so. Sky News reported had Bush declared his candidacy earlier he would have been under far tighter regulations and able to raise less. From today though the pretence is over. The Bush name is back in U.S. presidential politics. Get used to it. Bush, 62, is a two times Florida governor who speaks Spanish and is married to a Hispanic woman. On paper he ticks some crucial boxes for Republicans desperate to get back in to the White House. He has the backing of many in his party but this year’s Republican field is much bigger and more impressive than the primary line-up four years ago. There are already more than 20 declared candidates.

He’s very different from his brother. He’s younger. He speaks two languages, he clearly reads and absorbs information and can talk about just about anything in a much more expansive way than his brother.

The Washington Post’s Bushwatcher, Ed O'Keeffe.

Bush’s challenge will be seeing them off without moving too far to the right, as Mitt Romney did in 2012 with fatal consequences for his electability. But political writers say his biggest problem will be his name. It brings with it a huge amount of baggage for voters on both the right and the left of U.S. politics. He’ll need to convince moderates that he will not repeat the excesses of his brother’s administration. There’s a long way to go but if it comes down to the money, as it so often does in U.S. politics, a Bush/Clinton dynastic battle remains the most likely outcome.

George Bush 43 did a tremendous job in his response to 9/11 but as time went on his policies in Iraq were a failure. His economic policies were a disaster. And his brother has shown zero indication that he’ll be any different.

Conservative writer, Brent Bozell.

Politics