Be afraid. Be very afraid.



Here's the lead paragraph from the accompanying Fred Barnes article:

IF ONLY HIS LAST NAME WERE SMITH. He'd not only attract national attention as the popular and successful governor of a difficult-to-govern state. He'd be viewed sympathetically as a leader who had dealt with family issues--his wife's aversion to politics, his daughter's bouts with drug addiction--without losing his grip on the governorship. And he'd be the prohibitive frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

Kill me now.

Some reasons why Jeb is so great, according to Barnes:

Florida was a weak-governor state when Bush arrived. No more. It had cabinet government with six elected state officials besides the governor. Now the cabinet has been reduced to three members plus Bush, and power is not shared equally. Bush rules. He removed the bar association from a role in naming judges and now controls the selection process. He also eliminated the state board of regents, took control of the board of every public university, and gained the right to name the state education commissioner.

Great -- another dictator wannabe. Just what America needs right now.

He stubbornly fought a high-speed train connecting Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. It was approved in a 2000 referendum, only to be rejected in 2004 at Bush's urging.

Drive, dammit! Use more imported oil! Trains are for French people!

Medicaid: Bush's bold experiment, due to begin in less than a month, has important national implications. In Broward and Duval counties, Medicaid recipients will choose among 19 insurance plans.

I guess if you really, really enjoyed trying to figure out Medicare Part D, you're going to love this.

So why are we hearing Jeb's name so much these days?

Grover Norquist ... has tried to persuade Bush to run for president in 2008....

Ah, Norquist. He's not elected, he's not appointed, he's not a captain of industry (has he ever even held a real job?), he's not a recognized leader of a large voting bloc, and yet he's one of the most powerful men in America -- and, given the electoral haplessness of the Democratic Party, he'll probably remain that way for the foreseeable future. How do we term-limit this guy?

Meanwhile, there's this:

After Senator John McCain, the Republican frontrunner in 2008, visited Bush here this spring, rumors of a deal spread: Bush would back McCain for the nomination in exchange for being his vice presidential pick. As far as I can tell, that's not true.

Bush, though, had extremely kind words for McCain when I talked to him a few weeks after his session with the Arizona senator. "I like McCain," he said. "I like the fact that he doesn't like pork. I'm upset with Washington and this passionate defense of overspending, as though there's a clamoring in the land to do this."

(Remember, McCain will be 72 years old on Inauguration Day 2009 and he's already survived two rounds of malignant melanoma.)

Please tell me I don't have to worry about this. Tell me there isn't going to be a softening in attitudes toward George W. Bush by 2008, signaled, perhaps, by newsweekly cover stories with titles like "Survivor" and "The Lion in Winter." Tell me that won't happen and pave the way for another Bush vice presidency that could lead to another Bush presidency.

Never mind. I'm renewing my passport.