Jeb Bush has been a very busy boy since leaving his post as governor of Florida in 2007.
Joshua Green at Bloomberg wonders whether Bush's business dealings could render him a "Mini-Mitt" if he runs for president.
Until now, many people have assumed that Bush’s greatest challenge would be dispelling the perception among Republican primary voters that he’s a moderate in a party dominated by right-wing conservatives. In the wake of Romney’s bruising 2012 loss, however, Bush’s overseas funds, mysterious investors, and foreign entanglements could prove harder to overcome. As a budding private equity mogul, he’s begun to resemble a Mini-Mitt.
Bush is now chairman of three different private equity funds: BH Global Aviation Holdings ($61M), BH Logistics ($26M), and
another $40M fund involved in oil and gas exploration. All of them fall under the umbrella of Bush's Florida-based company, Britton Hill Holdings.
This poses two problems for Bush. First, walking away from investors that you've raised tens of millions from is apparently highly unorthodox, at least within the first 10 years. Yet he would surely have to do so in order to run for president.
Second, who wants to recreate Mitt's 47 percent campaign formula?
“Running as the second coming of Mitt Romney is not a credential that’s going to play anywhere, with Republicans or Democrats,” says John Brabender, a Republican consultant and veteran of presidential campaigns. “Not only would this be problematic on the campaign trail, I think it also signals someone who isn’t seriously looking at the presidency or he wouldn’t have gone down this path.”
Jeb Bush will have plenty of business dealings to cause him some headaches on the campaign trail—not least of which was becoming an adviser to Lehman Brothers, the global investment bank that collapsed in 2008 and helped tank the U.S. economy (along with other banking behemoths).
As Lehman faltered during the 2008 financial crisis, he was called upon to use his family connections to try and broker a rescue from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. The plan, code-named Project Verde, was unsuccessful. At one point, according to testimony in Lehman’s bankruptcy case, Lehman Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld considered asking Bush to have his brother, President George W. Bush, intervene on the company’s behalf with the British government, which was blocking a potential merger with a British bank.
Nonetheless, it's hard to imagine Bush being able to effect Romney's ultra stiff failure-to-connect demeanor. Bush has proven to be a better politician than that. But Green makes a good point—Bush will surely have to overcome his business ties and all the entanglements that come with them in order to win the general election. And yes, winning the GOP primary among a field full of right wingers like Rick Perry and Ted Cruz is still a giant hurdle.