The Political Game: Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush was coming right here to Broad Street Elementary School, about 100 feet away from my home. Well, I figured this is an event I should go to, just for the fun of seeing retail politics up close.

It was more elaborate than I expected, with the full Bush entourage in tow. Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Bush, his wife, his son were all there. Lindsey Graham spoke first, followed by Susan Collins. And then Bush spoke.

It is always surprising how more cogent their arguments appear when heard in full, and not as snippets on TV. And one’s own analysis always has new insights for one rather than just reading the op-ed writers. The audience was surprisingly moderate, and Jeb Bush was surprisingly moderate. A question was, “do you agree there is climate change, some people seem unable to accept that?” Jeb Bush’s response was, “yes definitely there is climate change, and one of the reasons is human impact.” Wow. I didn’t think Republicans agreed to even this much.

It was a standing room only crowd, and I found a spot at the back. The group standing next to me were clearly neighbors and knew each other. They talked about another neighbor who was going to vote for Sanders, but without the derision I would have expected, especially when compared to the anger with which they spoke of Hillary. “She is liar,” he said flatly, and went into details of the Benghazi incident. “She will lie about what she ate for breakfast if it suits her.”

Most of the questions were moderate (except one on immigration), including one on from a pastor from rural Pennsylvania who forcefully described poor people (“138% below the poverty line, they were ‘dying’ with lack of healthcare”) who had been able to get healthcare from the Affordable Care Act, and wanted to know what the answer was for them if that was changed. Bush actually listed a couple of things he liked in the ACA (coverage for pre-existing conditions and coverage till children are 26) and said he would keep them, while changing other aspects of the law. And he talked about keeping costs down, etc. etc. Another question was from someone who works with a literacy non-profit and demanded to know what the answer was for the poor today. “When you and I were young,” she said, “everyone had chance. What can I tell them now?” Bush called out to his sister in the audience, who runs a literacy foundation, and talked about various changes needed in the education system.

His primary focus education system is the lack of testing and lack of any measure to see whether a child has learnt what he or she should have learnt in that grade. He talked about the testing measures he had introduced in Florida, and one questioner called him up on that, and asked him isn’t that a runaway train with no control? Wasn’t it too much testing? Bush stuck to what he said about testing being important to ensure that every child learns.

His biggest applause came when he said, “on the first day of office I give you my word that I will not blame President Obama. Unlike the president, who blamed my brother for everything.” Moderate though the crowd was, they clearly strongly disliked Obama.

The next biggest applause came when he laughed at Trump, and said (in response to Trump’s comment at the debate last night), “no, Trump, _you_ are the loser.” Lots of other anti-Trump lines brought forth applause as well.

The third biggest applause was when he took a dig at Hillary Clinton.

The audience was almost liberal, except when it came to America’s position in the world (and approval of Obama). They were very much for a notion that “America should lead,” America knows best, and America should resolve conflicts, etc. etc.

The most interesting conversation was with an Asian woman in a smart green jacket standing next to me. She had come all the way from Florida to volunteer for the Bush campaign. She had been in Iowa as well. She said he was the best governor they had had. I asked her specifically what she liked. One, she said, was that he made government more efficient. She and her husband have two small businesses, LOCs, and she made it so much more easier to do things after Bush made some changes. In places like California and Delaware, she said, there was so much more paperwork, and one had to mail in forms, whereas in Florida now they could do it all online. “He made things efficient with IT, like he says on the campaign trail!” she said. “It made our lives so much easier!” I nodded, and asked for more. The next big achievement to her was education. She said her son’s best friend, an African American, was in a poor neighborhood, and consequently in a poor school. He was about move to a charter school and was now doing extremely well. “What about the idea that en masse movement of students from public schools further hurts the poor schools?” I asked. “Anyone who wants to leave can leave,” she said. “You know, anyone can leave.” We talked some more on the topic, and she believes in taking personal responsibility, which is in line with what I have observed in Asian families. They work hard, take nothing for granted, do everything for their children to help them succeed. She proudly mentioned her son who goes to Philips Academy in Andover, MA (an elite private school).