She hasn’t even run for office and the political buzz about the Clinton “dynasty” is already eclipsing former first daughter Chelsea and focusing on her baby, Charlotte, and a potential 2040 run for the House.
And forget Jeb Bush. As he flounders in the 2016 presidential primary race he once dominated, there’s a new focus on his son, George P. Bush, recently elected as the influential Texas Land Commissioner.
“What is fascinating about the Bushes and the Clintons in terms of background, style, and personality is that they have nothing in common except a burning desire to get elected president of the United States,” writes presidential scholar Stephen Hess in his new “America’s Political Dynasties: From Adams to Clinton,” from Brookings Institution Press.
“A nice irony is that while the Clintons are not a dynasty but would like to be one, the Bushes are a dynasty but deny that they are one,” wrote the longtime Brookings fellow in his encyclopedic update of his powerful 1966 book.
It couldn’t be more timely, or revealing.
On the Clintons, Hess simply states that they just don’t qualify for “dynasty” status, not even if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency. The reason: Another generation of in the Clinton clan, like Chelsea or baby Charlotte, needs to be elected.
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Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky has talked about running, but if her daughter were to run, it would create two dynasties, said Hess, who previewed his book to the Examiner.
“Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky is now too young to register to vote, but if she gets elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2040, the first day on which she will be constitutionally eligible to run, the new congresswoman-elect may wish to note that both her maternal and paternal grandparents one held high office in Washington,” the Brookings expert wrote in a reference to Charlotte’s other grandparents, former Reps. Majorie Margolies and Ed Mezvinsky.
As for the Bushes, he cites several examples where the family of elites deny dynasty status, even though Jeb’s brother, father and grandfather held federal office. Hess also revealed a little family secret: “Business success is for the sake of being in politics.”
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He also detailed how the family’s political stars, including Jeb, have come back from terrible losses, a good omen for the former Florida governor.
And if that doesn’t work out, added Hess, there is always Jeb’s son. “Jeb and Columba’s son George Prescott (known as ‘P’ in the family) works a political career in Texas,” writes Hess. “By heritage, a Bush is eligible to become the first Hispanic president.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
