Noonan on Jeb: Ho-Hum

Columnist Peggy Noonan's column about the Jeb Bush candidacy, written for The Wall Street Journal, can be found at Patriot Post, no subscription required. She isn't much sold on ol' Jeb, although she agrees the party professionals and big donors find him comfortable.

She gives considerable credence, and space, to David Frum's piece in The Atlantic which finds many parallels between Jeb Bush and Barack Obama, particularly their shared feeling of being outsiders, living between two worlds. She writes:

I am not sure Mr. Bush likes the base. If he doesn’t, it would explain some of his discomfort. I am wondering if he sees the base as a challenge, not a home, something he has to manage, not something he is of. He was perhaps referring to this in December when he said you have “to lose the primary to win the general.” Actually you have to win it, but to really succeed you have to show you share the base’s heart, that you understand its beginning points and align with it on essentials.

What's more, I doubt the base likes him much. After Barack, we're substantially tired of outsiders.