Bush's cronyism and nepotism

Publisher Adam Bellow (yes, son of author Saul) has some thoughts on how dynastic families like the Bushes are vulnerable to cronyism. An alternative interpretation is that the Bush Administration isn't quite nepotistic enough. Although John F. Kennedy was frequently laid up with various illnesses, and occasionally out of his head on pain medication (as at his first disastrous summit meeting, which encouraged Khrushchev to provoke the Cuban Missile Crisis), he had his energetic brother Bobby by his side to cover for him. In contrast, Bush's more competent brother, Jeb, has no role in the White House because he's down in Florida being governor.

One of the unfortunate accidents of recent American history was that in 1994, Jeb, who was favored to be elected governor of Florida, lost, while George W., who seemed a long shot in Texas, won. That reversed Poppy and Barb Bush's expectation that it would be their fair-haired boy Jeb, not their ne'er-do-well son George W., who would succeed them in the White House. I imagine George W. could have served a valuable role in Jeb's Administration as the heavy, the tough guy who sniffs out disloyalty and fires people for the President. Instead, George W. wound up as the GOP frontrunner in 2000 mostly due to name-recognition and twice narrowly defeated unappealing Democratic opponents.

By the way, has anybody heard Jeb vociferously defending his brother's Iraq Attaq lately?

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer