Jump in, Jeb

WASHINGTON -- Run, Jeb, run.

I mean it, despite two powerful arguments against a presidential run by Jeb Bush -- one specific to the former Florida governor, one more generic.

Generic first, because it is the more compelling: The thought of a Republican president makes me shudder, largely because of the irreparable harm to the Supreme Court. Legislative and regulatory mistakes can be fixed, albeit at enormous cost and difficulty. (Think George W. Bush's tax cuts.) Foreign policy blunders are harder to repair. (Think George W. Bush's war in Iraq.)

But the real risk is the judicial legacy a Republican president would leave behind. By the time the next president takes office, three of the justices (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy) will be in their 80s.

With the exception of Scalia, a Republican replacement of any of them would likely tip the balance of the court firmly into the hands of its conservative justices, to the peril of the court and the country. The impact would be felt when George P. Bush -- or Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky -- is running for president.

The Bush-specific objection is obvious from the previous sentence, and stated best by the prospective candidate's own mother: America is not, or should not be, a dynastic nation.

"If we can't find more than two or three families to run for high office, that's silly," Barbara Bush told C-SPAN earlier this year. "I refuse to accept that this great country isn't raising other wonderful people."

The weakness of this argument is that it ignores the fact that Jeb Bush happens to be well-qualified to run for president. And it arises in the looming shadow of a presidential run by Hillary Clinton, another candidate whose qualifications extend far beyond her surname.

As a general matter -- sure, Barbara Bush is right. The more expansive our political roster, the better. But in the context of 2016 -- well, this gets to my "run, Jeb, run" argument. He and Clinton are two of the best-qualified candidates.

My argument for a Jeb Bush candidacy is also twofold: It would be good for Bush's party and good for the country.

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