Jeb Bush offers tone-deaf reboot of tone-deaf campaign

He's a member of a political dynasty, a man who's seen as the candidate-of-choice for the beltway establishment, and a guy who's run a campaign that only seems energized when he's attacking members of his own party. He's given awards to his would-be general election opponent, has lashed out at any candidate who hasn't spent a lifetime in Washington D.C., and has surrounded himself with a cadre of advisors who've made it clear they're willing to go scorched-Earth on any Republican who doesn't tow the "it's his turn" line.

He's Jeb Bush, and thus far his candidacy has been a tone-deaf mess that has failed to excite ...anyone. So, someone at Bush HQ decided it's time for that age-old political maneuver known as the "campaign reboot." Unfortunately, the first speech of the "Jeb can fix it" tour is any indication, it's going to be just as clunky and tone deaf as the rest of his campaign. ....And yes, as ABC reports, they really are calling it the "Jeb can fix it" tour. According to Bush, the "Jeb can fix it" tour is designed to put "The Beltway on notice.” Jeb says he's willing to turn Washington DC "upside down" in pursuit of his reformer goals. That might have sounded nice if he'd stopped there. Unfortunately, he kept going. First, he employed the most hackneyed of political moves by invoking Lincoln. Then, he brought up "conservative hero" FDR - a man who almost single-handedly created the welfare and entitlement state under which the country now struggles.

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After that, he went on the attack. America's problems, he claims, won't be solved by the likes of Trump, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, or Paul.

“This won’t be solved with more talk. The answer isn’t sending someone from one side of the capital city to the other. The solution won’t be found in someone who has never demonstrated the capacity to implement conservative ideas. And you can’t just tell Congress… ‘You’re Fired’… and go to a commercial break. You have to bring people together to solve problems. The challenges we face as a nation are too great to roll the dice on another presidential experiment."

And therein lie Jeb's problems. At every opportunity, in a campaign where the GOP electorate is desperate for an outsider candidate who will fight, Jeb has positioned himself as an insider candidate who will 'work together' with his opponents. He's the safe, non-dice-rolling choice because he's been hanging around for ages. It's honestly hard to recall a candidate who seems so completely incapable of reading the mood of his own party's base. John McCain certainly comes to mind, but even he was a candidate who at least attempted to present himself as a 'maverick.' Forget whether or not anyone believed him (they didn't) but at least he understood that an establishment Republican was not what the people were looking for. It's almost as if Bush is running some sort of weird mirror-universe campaign where he's essentially decided to be the opposite of that. When the base wants to end illegal immigration, he offers amnesty. When the base looks for strengthened states’ rights, he offers common core. When the base demands a fighter, Bush promises to 'reach across the aisle.' I said the other day that, barring a miracle, the Bush campaign was all but finished. If the "Bush can fix it" tour - in which the candidate offers more of the same - is the closest we're going to get to a "miracle," it only cements my initial instincts. Version 10.0 of 'establishment GOP' won't fare any better than versions 1-9. You can slap a fresh coat of paint on it, But we've seen this before. When you're attacking the frontrunners for being candidates that offer the people what they want, you're in big trouble.