Limping on the final legs of his presidential campaign, Jeb Bush proved with his recent drop from the election that it takes a lot more than a family name and money to win a presidency.
Despite having spent over $130 million, which is more than all the expenditures of the other candidates combined according to the New York Times, Bush always came in fourth place during primaries. Stuttering during the GOP debates, and under attack for the faults of the previous Bush administration run by his brother, Jeb Bush never lived up to the family name.
In fact, he may have worsened their reputation.
Bush never held the position of leading candidate in polls, nor was he ever predicted to be a winner by political analysts. In fact, the only thing for certain was that he had a very high chance of losing according to political analysts.
In addition, Bush’s impression on audiences was not the strongest. Playing on the fact that he had somewhat improved things in Florida as governor, Bush relied too much on his previous track record to gain him votes.
The former governor’s fatal flaw though was in attacking fellow Floridian, Marco Rubio, who had initially been siding with Bush. Bush challenged Rubio on his position in the Senate, and when Rubio replied, it was clearly evident that Bush was grasping for straws ever since the beginning.
“You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you’re modeling after? ” said Rubio on the subject of Bush’s strategies in October 2015. “Jeb, I don’t remember you ever complaining about John McCain’s vote record. The only reason you’re doing it now is because we’re running for the same position and somebody has convinced you that attacking me, is going to help you.”
In total, Bush’s campaign was an extreme failure in the history of presidential campaigns. Unsuccessful pokes at other candidates along with Bush being incapable of defending himself, contributed to the collapse of a failed run. One broken legacy later, the only memorable characteristic of the campaign was his inevitable dropping out.
