The former first lady who once openly opposed a presidential run by her son, Jeb, now says she’s changed her mind.
In a fundraising email sent Wednesday by Jeb Bush’s Super PAC, Barbara Bush says she now heartily endorses a third Bush presidency.
“When the idea of Jeb running for President first came up, I was hesitant,” she writes, adding coyly, “You may have heard about that. When you see the pounding candidates take these days, what mother wouldn't be?”
Two years ago, the always blunt Barbara shocked even her family when she said on the Today show that she hoped Jeb wouldn’t run.
“He's by far the best qualified man, but no. I really don't,” she said at the time. “There are a lot of great families, and it's not just four families or whatever. There are other people out there that are very qualified and we've had enough Bushes.”
But, the matriarch of the Bush family said in the email titled “I changed my mind!” that the U.S.’s “problems are so profound that America needs a leader who can renew the promise of this great nation.”
And she announced she’s starting the Run Jeb Run fund.
“Jeb is our best chance of taking back the White House in 2016, and he can’t do it without you,” she says in the fundraising appeal.
Former Secretary of State James Baker said earlier this week that Barbara Bush was opposed to a Bush candidacy several years ago, but had changed her views.
“I think she’s 100 percent supportive, and I’m very hopeful that he’s going to run,” Baker told Ora.tv’s PoliticKING with Larry King. “I think he’s done a really good job so far in the invisible primary, and locking up a lot of financial support, and political support.”
Bush, who has not yet announced a presidential bid but is traveling to influential presidential primary states and raising gobs of money, speaks fondly of his entire family on the campaign trail, noting that “a lot of people know me as George’s boy, or Barbara’s boy or W’s brother, all of which I’m very proud of to be honest with you. I love my family.
He told an audience in Cedar Rapids, Iowa recently that when he “was brought into the world in Midland, Texas 62 years ago and my eyes opened up, and I got a chance to look, and I was next to Barbara Bush. I’m totally blessed. I mean, I won the lottery if you think about it.”
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