Bushes vs. Clintons for the heavyweight championship of the world (again)

With the recent presidential campaign crash of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), eyes now turn to the Sunshine State of Florida and its former Republican governor, Jeb Bush.

While former first lady Barbara Bush, a great admirer of former President Bill Clinton, suggests that her son Jeb should not run for president, I have heard unconfirmed reports from sources I trust that former President George W. Bush has been quietly working the phones with major GOP donors on behalf of a potential 2016 campaign for his brother.

{mosads}No doubt, Jeb Bush would make good sense for Republicans. He has major governing experience, a presidential-quality temperament, national name recognition and enormous access to campaign money. Since Republicans tend to nominate the eldest politically surviving white male from previous campaigns, Jeb Bush would have standing and clout.

This GOP tendency also explains the recent boomlet for former Massachusetts Republican governor and current Netflix movie star Mitt Romney, who looked appealing in the film “Mitt” and has been making the rounds discussing his genuine expertise about the Olympics as the winter games begin.

It is true that American politics is starting to look monarchical with competing royal families named Bush, Clinton and Romney. My guess is that Romney does not want to run for president again and that Jeb Bush might well decide to run, which would leave America facing another Bush versus Clinton contest for the heavyweight championship of the political world.

With the list of potential Republican candidates growing larger than the U.S. Olympic hockey team, and many of the potential candidates either lacking needed experience or looking like fringe candidates of the far right, Christie’s fall inevitably leads to talk of Romney and the growing prospects for Bush.

America may well have an important debate about whether the nation is well-served by a handful of families dominating presidential politics. On the other hand, Bill Clinton was widely seen as a very good president, the insults of the small-looking Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) notwithstanding.

Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, and Jeb Bush do have this in common: They are all qualified to be president, have the resources to run for president, and none of them have blockaded a bridge between New York and New Jersey. The odd man out in this circle is the Republican right, which offers a path to devastating Republican defeat at the hands of Clinton. Of course, it still has enough clout to intimidate House GOP leaders to bow to the anti-immigration cult, which could cost Republicans dearly in 2014 and 2016 with the huge wave of Hispanic voters and the majority of Americans who favor historic immigration reform.

As Christie falls, Bush rises, and the Bushes and Clinton are circling each other again, warily eying each other as the next championship bout in American political history approaches.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Bill Alexander, then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at brentbbi@webtv.net.