David Brooks: "On The Republican Side, The Great And The Good Are Hoping For Jeb Bush"

Very interesting dialog...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/11/22/david_brooks_on_the_republican_side_the_great_and_the_good_are_hoping_for_jeb_bush.html

David Brooks: "On The Republican Side, The Great And The Good Are Hoping For Jeb Bush"

JUDY WOODRUFF, PBS NEWSHOUR: Well, it — let’s look at those.

You have already got some Republicans. It’s only two weeks almost since the midterms. You have already got Republicans out there talking about whether they’re going to — or people talking about whether they’re going to run, whether it’s Jeb Bush. John Kasich won by 30 points in the state of Ohio, won reelection.

Are we beginning, David, to see the shape of who may run on the Republican side? We know, on the Democratic side, Jim Webb, the former United States senator from Virginia, formed an exploratory committee.

DAVID BROOKS: Right. Right.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I don’t know how much a threat you think he is to Hillary Clinton.

DAVID BROOKS: Right.

Well, on the Republican side, the great and the good are hoping for Jeb Bush, very pro-immigration, by the way. And I think he would…

RUTH MARCUS: … Jeb Bush.

DAVID BROOKS: If he runs, he would be strong.

John Kasich has been undertalked about. He is — knows Washington very well, was a senior budget official, a congressman. He has been a very successful governor, very popular, won by huge margins in the swingiest of the swing states, has strong connections in among religious conservatives, is just quirky enough for a country that’s kind of angry, but just establishment enough for a country that doesn’t want a crazy person.

I think he’s actually — the more you think about John Kasich, the — the well-positioned I think he is. Webb is fascinating. He’s a Jacksonian. He’s a Scots-Irish Jacksonian. I’m not sure those people exist anymore in the Democratic Party.

But it would be fascinating for him to run. He would run from the left. And the big room for Hillary is on — he would run from the right of Hillary.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

DAVID BROOKS: The big room is on the left. And we will see if anybody leaps into that, aside from Bernie Sanders.