O Brother, Where Art Thou?
MOORE, STEPHEN
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Jeb Bush is riding high. BY STEPHEN MOORE Tallahassee, Florida AS I'M USHERED into Jeb Bush's office in the state capitol, I'm struck by two things. First, how cramped...
...W. governed in Austin as if his administration were a basketball team clinging to a four-point lead in the fourth quarter...
...The bill failed 95-0 in the House...
...He's mystified by Republican governors who are raising taxes...
...But that's far from the whole story...
...If Jeb's second term in Tallahassee is anywhere near as successful as his first, he could waltz into the White House five years from now, perhaps even protesting (as he often does now) that he's not really interested in the presidency...
...No wonder he's rated one of the two best governors in America—Bill Owens of Colorado is the other—on the Cato Institute Fiscal Report Card...
...The numbers are staggering: In the first year of the program, there were 78 F schools...
...silent monuments to the time when government played a role larger than it deserved or could adequately fill...
...The state budget has grown only modestly, despite a heavy influx of immigrants and tax refugees from the Northeast...
...His excuse was that he didn't want to alienate minority supporters...
...It's to Florida's economic advantage...
...I suspect he's just saying what he knows I want to hear...
...There's that blasted word again, which has recently supplanted liberty as the GOP's guiding star...
...As if to punctuate this point, Jeb says his goal is to "embed in society a sense of caring that makes government less necessary...
...In our private moments alone, we should reflect on our unearned gifts and rededi-cate our lives to those around us...
...Of course, the guy isn't perfect...
...And his rhetoric has become markedly more spiritual of late...
...In a thousand ways we can be more accepting, more giving, more compassionate...
...Although he is just beginning his second term after a lopsided victory over Democrat Bill McBride, the Florida governor has accomplished a Stephen Moore is president of the Club for Growth...
...Jeb really pulled the rug out from under us," fumes one conservative leader who promoted the initiative...
...Senate Republicans) in the direction he wants it to go...
...Take this passage from his inaugural speech in January: While I am the one who takes this oath of office today, when we leave this place your responsibility is as sacred as mine: Through our example and our deeds we should strive to shape our society through kindness and caring...
...Our intention is to clear away all the governmental obstacles to creating prosperity in this state," he assures me...
...Though Jeb loathes any such comparisons, his policy record is light-years more impressive than George W.'s was in Texas at a similar stage in his career...
...We don't have a budget deficit problem here...
...Bush has cut business and property taxes by $1.8 billion—no meager achievement given that Florida is already a low-tax state and one of only nine without an income tax...
...Which is what brings me to Tallahassee...
...In short, Jeb Bush is riding high in the saddle...
...There have been non-economic victories too: Bush has launched one of the most successful and acclaimed school-choice projects in the country...
...But, in point of fact, this politician has the downsizing record to back up the enticing rhetoric...
...Now there are fewer than 20...
...This guy could post-up Bill Clinton...
...But there is more than compassion here...
...Nothing defines Jeb's priorities better than his A-Plus school choice program, or what he calls his "supply-side education policy...
...He's probably right...
...That's our mission...
...Later it occurs to me that Jeb's cubbyhole office is symbolic of the state government he is hell-bent on trying to create in Florida: lean, functional, and without extravagance...
...When I ask Jeb how he's handling the crunch, he seems almost insulted...
...He talks incessantly about resurrecting and strengthening the family...
...The economy's performing well: Although Florida was hit especially hard by 9/11, thanks to its large tourist business, it is currently creating new jobs at a faster rate than any of the other 10 largest states...
...Last year, in order to dig out of a revenue hole created by 9/11, he suspended a scheduled cut in business taxes, which led to a mini-revolt among right-wingers in the House...
...In our hectic daily lives, we should fiercely guard a time for selflessly helping the most vulnerable and needy...
...And two years ago Bush torched the Florida trial lawyers by signing one of the most pro-consumer tort reform laws in the nation...
...I'm here to find out what America's fastest political comet actually believes...
...In our businesses we should give moms and dads time to be parents with children...
...This plan to rescue failing schools was enacted over the thunderous opposition of the Florida teachers' unions...
...lot of that mission already...
...Jeb's whirlwind pace of gutsy policy initiatives in Tallahassee is more like a team that's down with two minutes to go...
...First, how cramped it is in here: A midlevel bureaucrat in Washington would be insulted to have an office this skimpy...
...One thing, however, is certain...
...Free-market conservatives could do a lot worse...
...Let New York and others raise taxes, he laughs...
...At the end of his inaugural address in January, Governor Bush laid out this vision for the legislature: "There would be no greater tribute to our maturity as a society than if we can make these government buildings around us empty of workers...
...W. should see these numbers...
...Do they really think that higher taxes will bring jobs back...
...The urgency of this message may well be related to his daughter's highly publicized drug problems and the pain this has brought to his own loved ones...
...As far as I'm concerned, Jeb can't get to Washington soon enough...
...For that escapade, he gained a reputation as not entirely dependable...
...Like all successful politicians, Jeb has a calculating side...
...Last year when the state Senate passed a huge sales tax hike, he not only fought the Republican-sponsored proposal, he even walked the halls of the capitol to round up "No" votes...
...With every passing day that I spend in this office, I'm more persuaded that big government programs are a false solution to our societal problems...
...He wants big plays...
...But even when he talks about strengthening families, the governor says he wants it done through a renewal of personal responsibility, and not by creating new bureaucracies...
...Consider the state budget crisis...
...Among all the governors, he's this generation's Tommy Thompson...
...That's the impact of competition," Jeb proclaims...
...And yet, Jeb remains something of a mystery...
...When I ask him this very question via e-mail (his favorite form of communication), he answers, "I suppose I'm more of a compassionate conservative...
...Florida, it turns out, is one of only five states that isn't combating a hailstorm of red ink right now and one of only three that is cutting taxes this year...
...It's not for nothing that the third son of George and Barbara Bush is the odds-on favorite to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2008...
...second, how big Jeb is: He's a lot taller and broader than his more famous brother...
...Jeb eagerly flips out a chart from his briefcase...
...The A-Plus program makes it possible for parents in school districts that receive an F grade in consecutive years to put their kids into private schools...
...I would bet that we've gotten more results out of the $300,000 that we've spent on these vouchers than most states have from $3 million in conventional education spending...
...after all, he is a politician...
...During our conversation, Jeb volunteers wistfully: "You know something...
...Oh, and unlike his brother, Jeb doesn't boast about things like being "misun-derestimated"—in English or in spanish...
...Jeb stubbornly refused to let any legislation pass until he got his bill...
...Anyway, as we sit with two of his aides talking about the state's fiscal crisis and the governor's political philosophy, our knees are practically knocking into each other for lack of space...
...Jeb's got a knack for leading the legislature (which is dominated by the GOP, though Florida Senate Republicans have even less backbone than U.S...
...He'd be sizzling hot even if he weren't the son and brother of presidents...
...In fact, he boasts, "we're going full steam ahead with the next phase of our business tax cuts...
...Jeb is first and foremost a policy entrepreneur," beams former Florida House speaker Tom Feeney, now a congressman...
...On the one hand, Jeb is a bully-pulpit social conservative...
...Our tax cuts helped keep the budget in balance, by preventing a big buildup in spending during the boom years," he figures...
...I'd say they should be cutting taxes, like we are...
...He's unapologetically pro-life...
...Is he a compassionate conservative or a Barry Goldwater anti-big government libertarian...
...But his biggest snafu came in his first year in office, when he refused to back a civil rights initiative to ban racial preferences...
...And in politics, height is a definite advantage...
Vol. 8 • April 2003 • No. 32
