Via Reuters: ‘I have no future’ — Jeb Bush tells reporters:

The shadow of President Bush seemed to loom large over his younger brother on Wednesday, as the outgoing Florida governor ruled out any plans to return to elected office.

“No tengo futuro (I have no future),” Jeb Bush told Spanish-language reporters in Miami, when asked about any possible political ambitions after he steps down next month.

The popular, two-term governor has often been touted as a savvy politician with a good chance of following both his brother and father, George H.W. Bush, into the White House.

But the unpopularity and dismal job-approval ratings of his brother may have scuttled any plans Jeb Bush may have had for a future in politics after running one of America’s most crucial swing states for the past eight years.

Bush did not elaborate on his terse “no future” comment. But he has said repeatedly over the past year that he would not run for president in 2024 and has never seemed comfortable with talk about Bush III or the Bush presidential dynasty.

A couple of things come to mind.

First, even if his brother had higher ratings than he currently has, it seems to me that the American people would have been uneasy about back-to-back members of the same family in office.

Second, Jeb really only has three real options if he wants to remain in politics:  the Senate, the Vice-Presidency  and the Presidency.  As such, it isn’t like he has a huge array of short-term options.

Third, as one who speaks Spanish fairly well, but nowhere near perfectly, I would note that it is easy to make overly simplistic statements in a foreign language that may not be as precise as they sound.  I know that I have made short, declarative statements like the one Jeb made that conveyed a basic idea, but was not as nuanced as it would have been in English.  I doubt very much that Jeb would have literally said “I have no future” to a reporter in English.  Indeed, had he done so, we would probably be calling a suicide watch on the man.

Fourth, demeanor matters for a statement like that.  Was he dejectedly looking at his shoes when he said it?  What was the context?

It wouldn’t surprise me if the man never holds elected office again–his brother’s tenure will be an issue, to be sure–but time has a way of dealing with those things.  Who would’ve thought George H. W. Bush’s son would be the next President after Bill Clinton?  However, just Jeb’s limited options alone makes it, probabilistically speaking, unlikely that he will be back in politics.