Jeb Bush: Hillary and I Must Overcome Last Names if We Run

Both Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton will have to "overcome" the political weight of their respective family names should they decide to make a run for the White House in 2016, Bush said Monday.

Bush, whose father, George H.W. Bush, and brother, George W. Bush, both occupied the White House, says he’ll make up his mind on whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination by the end of 2014.

Clinton, former first lady in the administration of her husband Bill Clinton and secretary of state in the first term of the Obama administration, has also indicated she’ll follow that approximate timeline for an announcement.

But Bush, former two-term governor of Florida, said Monday there’s lots to think about, CNN reported. 

As featured speaker at the Long Island Association’s biannual lunch, a well-known stopping point for past and future presidents, CNN reported Bush acknowledged that his mother, Barbara Bush, has made no secret of her wish that he not follow his father and brother into the White House because "there are other families" who should be given a shot.

"It’s an issue, for sure," he told the luncheon crowd.

Recalling how a plane ride seat-mate talked about having a Bush, a Clinton and then another Bush in the White House – and that there’s now the prospect of yet another Clinton or Bush – the ex-governor remarked: "I get the point," CNN reported.

"It's something that, if I run, I would have to overcome that. And so will Hillary, by the way. Let's keep the same standards for everybody," he said.

For now, Bush said he's "old school" and thinks "one election should end before the next one starts."

"I intend to campaign for a lot of candidates for my team and I hope we can be victorious, and I'd rather focus on that right now," he said of the coming midterms, noting that much work needs to be done for Republicans to woo the voters they need to win.

"I think we've become a little more harsh than we need to be, so the first step would be to tone it down a bit, chill out," Bush said, adding: "We shouldn't be sending signals that turn them off from the get-go."

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