COMMENTARY BY DR JOHN WORLDPEACE FOR PRESIDENT 2016
It never ceases to amaze me what professional politicians are capable of doing.
Jeb Bush has divorced, discounted and rejected his brother George as he gets ready to run for President. I think the move was a bit extreme and ill conceived. American families like all families have problems with siblings interacting. Yet not so many completely disassociate with their siblings unless there was some personal attack that causes a distrust of some kind.
But to discount your brother who did in fact get elected president of the United States twice is a bit much from a brother who may be out of the race sooner than he thinks. That is the nature of public life.
I hugely disagreed with a lot of things George did as president. He got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that created chaos and killed and injured and displaced millions not to mention left a policy that has allowed ISIS to just walk in and take over a huge amount of real estate in Iraq. And George really harmed the economy more than anyone thought possible.
Yet George was elected by the people. That means his policies were endorsed by the majority of Americans. Most won't admit they voted for George anymore. Like many refused to admit they voted for Nixon.
But all that being said, George is personally just a good ole Texas boy. I don't know how he developed that way being the son of two Yankee parents. But in many ways George appears just as common as Texas dirt.
When I was in college, and facing the draft when I graduated, I applied to get into the Texas Air National Guard and become a weekend warrior and avoid Vietnam. The big selling point was that George was in the unit. Not that the Air National Guard was short on applicants in those days.
In 1970, or late 1969, I got a call from the Air National Guard that I was accepted into the unit. I turned it down. I had applied for Marine Corp OCS and preferred that path of milirary duty. As it turned out the Marines cut back their OCS classes and limited them to those with Engineering degrees as the war was winding down. I had a political science degree. I graduated from the University of Houston in August 1970, and was in the Army on October 12, 1970. I had volunteered for the draft.
I was in boot camp about two days when my wife called and said the Marines had an opening for me and wanted me to discharge from the Army and sign up for the March 1971 OCS class. I told her to tell them I was already in the Army and I was not going to discharge and be in limbo for 6 months as I had been for the prior year and not being able to get a job and too much uncertainty.
Who knows how my life would have been different had I connected with George back in 1970.
I like George as a person. He has a lot of good traits. I am thankful he is not President and smile at his desire to be a painter as am I.
All my positive thoughts about Jeb Bush just went down the tube with Jeb listening to people who have ill advised him on officially divorcing George.
I would expect that he would be getting rid of his daughter next due to her substance abuse. Nothing she did to Jeb anymore than anything that George did to hurt Jeb.
I think it is all a farce because guys like me are going to remind people that back in the day it was Jeb who undeniably threw the Florida election to his brother George and made him President. Remember the Chads. Jeb was the guy who put George in the White House over Al Gore. Vote counts are tricky things. I learned that in the 2002 Governor of Texas race. All professional politicians are crooked.
Like someone famous said, "No one is safe when the legislature is in session."
Dr John WorldPeace
150102 0500 MT
SOURCE: The New Yorker
Jeb Bush Resigns as George W. Bush’s Brother
By Andy Borowitz
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In the strongest sign to date that he intends to seek the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has officially resigned his position as George W. Bush’s brother.
“No longer being related to his brother is a key step to clearing Jeb’s path to the nomination,” an aide said on New Year’s Day. “We expect his poll numbers to soar on this.”
According to the aide, the former Florida governor resigned his post as brother in a ten-minute phone call with George W. Bush, after which he blocked the former President’s phone number and e-mail address.
In an official statement, George W. Bush said that he “understands and supports” his former brother’s decision.
“If I were him, I would no longer be related to me either,” he said.