As if to prove he is a happening sort of guy, Jeb Bush announced on Facebook and Twitter his intention to run for president. Of course, he didn’t say it outright, but rather couched it in careful language that allows him an out, while signaling the moneybags interests of the GOP Establishment that he wants to be their guy in the race. I suppose that if one threatens to inflict another Clinton versus Bush election on the nation, a little social media cachet helps blunt the Back to the Future dread many of us with good memories experience.

“As a result of these conversations and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leadership I think America needs, I have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States,”

James Hohman and Maggie Haberman of Politico explain the technicalities of his first move:

He said he plans to create a leadership PAC, a fundraising vehicle already used by several other potential candidates. An exploratory committee puts in place various legal tripwires and has the same official weight as being a declared candidate.
But the  move gives Jeb the opportunity to lock in financial support from donors who favor permissive illegal immigration treatment and who fear the tea party faction of the GOP more than they fear the Democrats. This could make life much more difficult for Marco Rubio, who shares many of the same Florida donors, and Chris Christie, who rings the dame establishment bells, among other potential candidates.

Lee Cary noted an ominous further Back to the Future element:

In the Facebook post, Bush trotted out something close a slogan saying he hoped to begin a conversation about "restoring the promise of America".

After puzzling for some time over how you lose the primary and still get to win in the general (sort of like, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for"), I felt the impact of Deja. “Restoring the promise of America?” Haven’t I heard that before?

Yes! Back when the national debt was $8,000,000,000,000 less than today, we heard it, according to FOX News.

“Romney called on voters to put the ‘disappointment’ and the ‘divisiveness’ of the last four years behind them, and ‘turn the page’ with him. ‘This president can ask us to be patient. This president can tell us it was someone else’s fault. … But this president cannot tell us that you’re better off today than when he took office,’ Romney said. ‘Now is the time torestore the promise of America.’”

So, the Jebster's first effort at coining a political “slogan” is to claim, for his own, the words of Mitt Romney.

If Jeb secures the nomination, I will support him and vote for him. But I suspect there are many conservatives who will stay home, repeating the Romney defeat disaster of 2012. The GOP establishment has not learned that dissing your base is no way to win elections. Jeb supports Common Core, an issue that will keep many people at home, along with his permissiveness to illegal immigration. Establishment centerists -- Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney -- have consistently lost by trying to be a less obnoxious version of the Democrats. We could end up with Hillary CVlinton or God forbid Elizabeth Warren in the White House.