The Bush family is trying to put Jeb at the center of the picture for a while, but it's not going so well.
The Bush family spent the weekend holding a
pep rally for Jeb!'s big-money donors, but under the circumstances it was less about pep than about hand-holding and soothing fears:
“Having 41 around helps take the edge off, but we all read the same newspapers and look at the same polls and it’s tough right now. There are a lot of people we thought would have written checks who aren’t on board yet,” one donor said. “In some ways, it’s reassuring being here and looking around seeing that there’s still a lot of support for Jeb.”
But on the very same weekend daddy, mommy, and big brother were glad-handing to allay donor fears, the candidate was
raising questions about whether he really wants to lead the party his brother did so much to shape into its current form:
"If this election is about how we're going to fight to get nothing done, then I don't want anything, I don't want any part of it. I don't want to be elected president to sit around and see gridlock just become so dominant that people literally are in decline in their lives. That is not my motivation. I've got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around, being miserable, listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that."
Gosh, Jeb!'s campaign message has been that he wasn't looking for a coronation and that he's his own man. And in the same weekend, we've got him expressing bitter frustration that he's not getting a coronation and relying on his family to rally the troops. I'd be worried, too, if I were one of his big donors.