Former Texas Governor Jeb Bush sat down for an interview with Tucker Carlson (yes, that Tucker Carlson) for Esquire Magazine. Gov. Bush discussed the state of the Republican Party, immigration, same sex marriage, and of course, President Barack Obama.
Here's what Gov. Bush had to say when asked about President Obama's popularity:
Why is he so popular now?
[A flash of agitation.]
First of all, who cares? His popularity is no greater — in fact it's
less — than what my brother's was during the beginning of his tenure,
in a time of unbelievable friction, if you think about it, because of
the 2000 election. His approval ratings were higher than Barack Obama's
during his first one hundred days. [Actually, according to Gallup,
during the first hundred days of his presidency, Bush had approval
ratings that were generally in the high 50s to low 60s, while Obama's
were in the low to mid-60s.]
My guess is that there will be a push back. I think in general there was a period of time when the only new ideas were Republican ideas. It wasn't that long ago. And now one could make the case that the opposite is the case.
We certainly have lost the last two elections in terms of the tactics. In terms of the mechanics of politics, the tactics of politics, the Democrats have cleaned our clock. But beyond that, there hasn't been any kind of restatement of the organizing principles of our philosophy. And there haven't been a whole lot of ideas to come to the forefront based on that philosophy.
We haven't upgraded our message. We haven't updated it. If you close your eyes and listen to most Republicans, most conservatives, the same speech could have been given in 1990. And you can't discount that. It's a pretty important point. If people think our message is outdated, our message is not relevant to the world we live in, and I think a growing number of people may feel that, you lose your relevance.
I'm not saying abandon our principles. To the contrary: Find creative ways of expressing the principles.
This should be a renaissance time. Whether it's education or health care or energy or the environment, or whether it's the scale and scope and size of the governments all around us. This should be our time. But it isn't, is it?
Overall, the interview is a good one. Although I'm not a conservative, I can appreciate when one admits the truth about his or her own party rather than repeat the usual GOP talking points and spin.
