Journalist's book highlights Jeb Bush's charisma, drive, penchant for secrecy
This entry was posted on 5/26/2007 2:42 PM and is filed under Book Reviews.
Jeb: America's Next Bush: His Florida Years and What They Mean for the Nation
By S.V. Date
New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2007; 393 pages
"Jeb Bush is going to hate this book," veteran Florida political journalist S.V. Date writes in the preface to Jeb: America's Next Bush. As Date details his professional relationship to the former Florida Governor and younger brother of President George W. Bush, as well as his analysis of the workings of Jeb Bush's governorship, it is easy to see why. Date claims that, as a reporter for the Palm Beach Post, he was the political reporter whom Governor Bush and his coterie disliked the most because he was dedicated to honesty and refused to regurgitate what he viewed as the Jeb Bush administration's opaqueness and dishonest spin.
Date writes, "I have a bias in favor of the truth. I believe that reporters generally, but particularly political and government reporters, have a responsibility to gain the expertise necessary so that they can make an informed quest for the truth in matters on which they write, and then convey that truth, or as close to it as they can possibly get, in their reports."
The author continues that he investigates sources' claims and, if a source's statement turns out to be false, then he or any other journalist must either refrain from printing the statement or follow it immediately with the correct information. Date claims that he "came upon Jeb as a complete blank slate" and, though he disagreed with some of his stances on public issues, he nevertheless had a "neutral to favorable impression of him" at the time that he took office. However, he writes that his view of the Governor soured when he assumed an essentially adversarial posture toward the press, in violation -- the author argues -- of the state's sunshine laws. Date writes that Bush's displeasure with him stemmed at least partly from his heavy reliance on public records in his reporting.
"As I will happily tell cantankerous sources: I do not care if they want to talk to me or not," Date writes. "As long as I have access to those documents to which I have a legal right, I can go ahead and report and write the quantitative analysis that I enjoy doing whether a dozen sources give me interviews, or no sources."
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush was heavily favored, during most of 1994, the year of his first run for the Florida Statehouse, to beat Democratic incumbent Lawton Chiles, who had lost ground in the polls due largely to the economic recession. His elder brother, George W. Bush, on the other hand, was expected to lose the Texas gubernatorial election to popular Democratic incumbent Ann Richards. However, Chiles upset Jeb, while George W. managed to unseat Richards. As the more intellectually inclined and driven of the two, according to Date, Jeb Bush was bitter over the loss and, perhaps, his brother's theft of the political spotlight and role of heir apparent to their father, former President George H.W. Bush, for the White House. According to Date, if Jeb had won in 1994 and been reelected four years later, he would have sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. That honor, of course, instead went to George W., the current President of the United States.
Nevertheless, Jeb Bush won the governorship in 1998. Date's portrait of Bush's tenure is at least far from flattering, if not damning. Governor Bush used a "carrot-and-stick" approach with the press, favoring journalists who kept their coverage biased in his administration's favor and ostracizing others, including Date. Bush also enshrouded his administration in official secrecy, despite an early promise that his would be the most transparent administration in Florida's history. He pushed through the Florida legislature tax cuts that heavily favored the rich -- perhaps even more than so than President George W. Bush's tax cuts, the author suggests. He also pushed forward student vouchers for private and religious schools, as well as tax support of religious schools. Date argues that these measures were detrimental to the public education system and in violation of the separation of church and state mandated by the US Constitution. Moreover, despite his claim to be an education governor, Bush fought hard and unsuccessfully against an amendment to the state constitution mandating smaller class sizes -- because it would necessitate increased spending on schools and thereby jeopardize his tax cuts.
Date offers interesting and surely controversial insights about Bush's religious loyalties. Unlike George W. Bush, who is a born-again, evangelical Methodist, Jeb Bush is a Roman Catholic. (According to Date, he has offered different accounts of and different dates for his conversion to his wife Columba's faith.) However, the author argues that Jeb Bush has been far more loyal to the evangelical Christian right and its causes than to his own Catholicism. For example, while he has departed radically from a number of the Catholic hierarchy's stances -- he supports the death penalty and the Iraq War and has little use for the Church's social justice teachings, he hews to the evangelical right's line on vouchers, faith-based initiatives, and other issues. (To be fair, Date is not entirely accurate when he characterizes Bush as departing from Catholic doctrine. The Catholic hierarchy's opposition to the death penalty and to "unjust" wars such as Iraq, though shared by many Catholics, is not defined doctrine, nor is it binding on Catholics -- in contrast to a number of other issues.)
Date praises Bush for his effective handling of seven hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 and for having appointed a very competent official to head Florida's disaster agency; the author compares these favorably to President George W. Bush's widely lambasted handling of Hurricane Katrina. Date suggests that Jeb Bush would make an excellent Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director.
Date characterizes Bush as having essentially authoritarian instincts and argues that, in his disdain for democratic transparency and his essential "loner" nature, which he has had to overcome due to political necessity, he is far better suited for a role as monarch rather than any elected office, let alone the presidency. Date notes that Bush's strong-arming of the Florida legislature proved so abrasive that legislators of his own (Republican) party rejoiced when they defeated one of his major initiatives. Despite these arguably dictatorial leanings, Date believes it to be extremely unlikely that Bush would decline a chance at the presidency unless circumstances overwhelmingly dictated against his running. (Bush has stated that he will not seek his party's presidential nomination in 2008, but that he has not ruled out accepting the vice presidential nomination if it is offered to him.) Date believes that, if 2008 is not right, then Bush, now 54, can wait until 2012, 2016, or even 2020 to run. The author maintains that, had George W. Bush been defeated for reelection in 2004, he would have destroyed Jeb's chance of ever being nominated. However, the fact that there has now been a two-term Bush presidency has thrown Jeb a political life preserver.
Date believes that the argument that people in the US disdain political dynasties is nonsense, pointing to the father-son presidencies of John and John Quincy Adams and George H.W. and George W. Bush, and to the many political offices held by various members of the Kennedy families. He argues that, if Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) wins the Democratic presidential nomination next year, then the anti-dynasty argument against a Jeb Bush candidacy will evaporate. The question that Jeb's handlers would pose to the voters would then be: Which dynasty do you want? Based on what the author perceives as arrogance, hostility to the principles of democracy and open government, and a ruthless drive to win at all costs, Date concludes that a Jeb Bush presidency is not only a distinct possibility, but a very dangerous one for the US.
Date has produced an informative, well-written account that is essential reading for anyone interested in Jeb Bush specifically (admirers, detractors, and those who are simply unfamiliar with him alike). He presents a close-up look at Jeb Bush's political record and, to a lesser extent, his personality, as well as an incisive examination of the inner workings of one of the most powerful families in the world and just what the man who is likely to be that family's next bright star represents for the future of this country's political institutions and economic and social realities.
By S.V. Date
New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2007; 393 pages
"Jeb Bush is going to hate this book," veteran Florida political journalist S.V. Date writes in the preface to Jeb: America's Next Bush. As Date details his professional relationship to the former Florida Governor and younger brother of President George W. Bush, as well as his analysis of the workings of Jeb Bush's governorship, it is easy to see why. Date claims that, as a reporter for the Palm Beach Post, he was the political reporter whom Governor Bush and his coterie disliked the most because he was dedicated to honesty and refused to regurgitate what he viewed as the Jeb Bush administration's opaqueness and dishonest spin.
Date writes, "I have a bias in favor of the truth. I believe that reporters generally, but particularly political and government reporters, have a responsibility to gain the expertise necessary so that they can make an informed quest for the truth in matters on which they write, and then convey that truth, or as close to it as they can possibly get, in their reports."
The author continues that he investigates sources' claims and, if a source's statement turns out to be false, then he or any other journalist must either refrain from printing the statement or follow it immediately with the correct information. Date claims that he "came upon Jeb as a complete blank slate" and, though he disagreed with some of his stances on public issues, he nevertheless had a "neutral to favorable impression of him" at the time that he took office. However, he writes that his view of the Governor soured when he assumed an essentially adversarial posture toward the press, in violation -- the author argues -- of the state's sunshine laws. Date writes that Bush's displeasure with him stemmed at least partly from his heavy reliance on public records in his reporting.
"As I will happily tell cantankerous sources: I do not care if they want to talk to me or not," Date writes. "As long as I have access to those documents to which I have a legal right, I can go ahead and report and write the quantitative analysis that I enjoy doing whether a dozen sources give me interviews, or no sources."
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush was heavily favored, during most of 1994, the year of his first run for the Florida Statehouse, to beat Democratic incumbent Lawton Chiles, who had lost ground in the polls due largely to the economic recession. His elder brother, George W. Bush, on the other hand, was expected to lose the Texas gubernatorial election to popular Democratic incumbent Ann Richards. However, Chiles upset Jeb, while George W. managed to unseat Richards. As the more intellectually inclined and driven of the two, according to Date, Jeb Bush was bitter over the loss and, perhaps, his brother's theft of the political spotlight and role of heir apparent to their father, former President George H.W. Bush, for the White House. According to Date, if Jeb had won in 1994 and been reelected four years later, he would have sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. That honor, of course, instead went to George W., the current President of the United States.
Nevertheless, Jeb Bush won the governorship in 1998. Date's portrait of Bush's tenure is at least far from flattering, if not damning. Governor Bush used a "carrot-and-stick" approach with the press, favoring journalists who kept their coverage biased in his administration's favor and ostracizing others, including Date. Bush also enshrouded his administration in official secrecy, despite an early promise that his would be the most transparent administration in Florida's history. He pushed through the Florida legislature tax cuts that heavily favored the rich -- perhaps even more than so than President George W. Bush's tax cuts, the author suggests. He also pushed forward student vouchers for private and religious schools, as well as tax support of religious schools. Date argues that these measures were detrimental to the public education system and in violation of the separation of church and state mandated by the US Constitution. Moreover, despite his claim to be an education governor, Bush fought hard and unsuccessfully against an amendment to the state constitution mandating smaller class sizes -- because it would necessitate increased spending on schools and thereby jeopardize his tax cuts.
Date offers interesting and surely controversial insights about Bush's religious loyalties. Unlike George W. Bush, who is a born-again, evangelical Methodist, Jeb Bush is a Roman Catholic. (According to Date, he has offered different accounts of and different dates for his conversion to his wife Columba's faith.) However, the author argues that Jeb Bush has been far more loyal to the evangelical Christian right and its causes than to his own Catholicism. For example, while he has departed radically from a number of the Catholic hierarchy's stances -- he supports the death penalty and the Iraq War and has little use for the Church's social justice teachings, he hews to the evangelical right's line on vouchers, faith-based initiatives, and other issues. (To be fair, Date is not entirely accurate when he characterizes Bush as departing from Catholic doctrine. The Catholic hierarchy's opposition to the death penalty and to "unjust" wars such as Iraq, though shared by many Catholics, is not defined doctrine, nor is it binding on Catholics -- in contrast to a number of other issues.)
Date praises Bush for his effective handling of seven hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 and for having appointed a very competent official to head Florida's disaster agency; the author compares these favorably to President George W. Bush's widely lambasted handling of Hurricane Katrina. Date suggests that Jeb Bush would make an excellent Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director.
Date characterizes Bush as having essentially authoritarian instincts and argues that, in his disdain for democratic transparency and his essential "loner" nature, which he has had to overcome due to political necessity, he is far better suited for a role as monarch rather than any elected office, let alone the presidency. Date notes that Bush's strong-arming of the Florida legislature proved so abrasive that legislators of his own (Republican) party rejoiced when they defeated one of his major initiatives. Despite these arguably dictatorial leanings, Date believes it to be extremely unlikely that Bush would decline a chance at the presidency unless circumstances overwhelmingly dictated against his running. (Bush has stated that he will not seek his party's presidential nomination in 2008, but that he has not ruled out accepting the vice presidential nomination if it is offered to him.) Date believes that, if 2008 is not right, then Bush, now 54, can wait until 2012, 2016, or even 2020 to run. The author maintains that, had George W. Bush been defeated for reelection in 2004, he would have destroyed Jeb's chance of ever being nominated. However, the fact that there has now been a two-term Bush presidency has thrown Jeb a political life preserver.
Date believes that the argument that people in the US disdain political dynasties is nonsense, pointing to the father-son presidencies of John and John Quincy Adams and George H.W. and George W. Bush, and to the many political offices held by various members of the Kennedy families. He argues that, if Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) wins the Democratic presidential nomination next year, then the anti-dynasty argument against a Jeb Bush candidacy will evaporate. The question that Jeb's handlers would pose to the voters would then be: Which dynasty do you want? Based on what the author perceives as arrogance, hostility to the principles of democracy and open government, and a ruthless drive to win at all costs, Date concludes that a Jeb Bush presidency is not only a distinct possibility, but a very dangerous one for the US.
Date has produced an informative, well-written account that is essential reading for anyone interested in Jeb Bush specifically (admirers, detractors, and those who are simply unfamiliar with him alike). He presents a close-up look at Jeb Bush's political record and, to a lesser extent, his personality, as well as an incisive examination of the inner workings of one of the most powerful families in the world and just what the man who is likely to be that family's next bright star represents for the future of this country's political institutions and economic and social realities.