How About Having a New President's Name to Learn?!

The first president Bush took office when older son was learning to walk.  Older son will turn 19 in a few weeks, and we've had either a Bush or a Clinton in the White House for his entire life.  I don't have any favorites so far in the upcoming presidential race, but I liked the title of James Burkee's opinion column, "Just give me a candidate who's not a Bush or a Clinton," from Wednesday's Raleigh News & Observer:

Having refused a third term as president, George Washington offered the nation a farewell address in 1796, urging Americans to cherish the Union and to avoid the "baneful effects" of political partisanship. Successors such as Thomas Jefferson warned against the formation of an "unnatural" aristocracy of men who inherited great fortunes and political office.

Both warnings have been overlooked in the debate over Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential run. But if she secures the Democratic nomination, wins and serves two terms, by 2017 the United States would have been governed by either a Bush or a Clinton for 28 years.

That's three decades governed not just by the same two families but much of the same supporting staff. As Dick Cheney is a name familiar to both Bush presidencies (as George H.W. Bush's secretary of defense and his son's vice president), so too may a Hillary Clinton presidency resuscitate familiar names such as Harold Ickes, Paul Begala and James Carville.

And it might not end there. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, encouraged by Republican leaders and the current president (who said, "I would like to see Jeb run at some point"), has not ruled out a White House bid or a vice presidential slot on the ticket in 2012 or 2016. [Aaaack!!!][Comment mine]

If Washington's caustic, partisan atmosphere is to change, the era of Bushes and Clintons needs to end in 2008.

...

From the time of John Quincy Adams -- whose term in office marked the end of the Era of Good Feelings -- the children and grandchildren of presidents engender exceptional hostility when they seek office themselves. For all their personal capacities, the latter Adams, Harrison and Bush -- like Hillary Clinton -- inherited their claims to the presidency. George W. Bush would not be president today were his name not George Bush, nor Hillary a senator from New York absent the Clinton name. This nation's traditional commitment to meritocracy inclines many to reject these "unnatural" aristocrats, who never garner widespread popularity....

 

(I don't care if she put up with her husband's infidelities, has actually served a whole term as U.S. Senator for a state she bought a house in (but hardly lived in), and supposedly now deserves the presidency.  It's time for a change!)