Jeb Bush isn’t seeking advice from his older brother, former President George W. Bush, about his likely run for the White House in 2016, former first lady Laura Bush said Friday.
“Not really … Jeb hasn’t come to him and asked him for it,” the wife of the former president said in an interview on CNN’s “New Day.” “Believe me, when both your father and your brother have been president, you’ve watched from the sidelines, for sure, and so he knows a lot. He’s been a great governor of Florida so it will be interesting to see.”
Laura Bush indicated that the former president isn’t actively involved in helping Jeb Bush as the former Florida governor ramps up campaign operations ahead of a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination.
“I mean, obviously, we’re huge Jeb supporters,” she said. “He’s our brother and we love him and I think he would be terrific. It’s interesting to watch, we’re watching only from the sidelines, but it’s fun and interesting to see.”
Jeb Bush has sought to distinguish his legacy from those of his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and his brother, as he moves toward a presidential run.
“My views will often be held up in comparison to theirs, sometimes in contrast to theirs,” Jeb Bush said last month at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “I love my father and my brother. I admire their service to the nation and the difficult decisions they had to make. But I am my own man and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences.”
Jeb Bush drove that point home at the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend, even as influential conservative talkers like Mark Levin took the stage to argue that the country doesn’t need another legacy candidate.
“If I … run for president, I have to show what’s in my heart,” Bush said. “I have to show that I care about people, about their future. It can’t be about the past, can’t be about my mom or dad or brother. It has to be about the ideas that I believe in to move our country forward so that we can have high, sustained economic growth where more people have a chance at earned success.”
George W. Bush left office amid a financial collapse and with the country mired in two unpopular wars. His approval ratings have rebounded some in the years since, but he remains a controversial figure inside the Republican Party and out of it.