Jeb Bush joked he’s not angling to run for president to set any historical records for presidential lineage.
“I have to prove that I’m not running for president — if I go beyond the consideration of this to being an active candidate — to try to break the tie between the Adams family and the Bush family,” he said Thursday night, drawing laughs at an event in Concord, New Hampshire. “That really isn’t my motivation — but I have to prove that.”
He was referring to John Adams, the second U.S. president, and John Quincy Adams, the sixth president —the only father-son president duo besides George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
A voter had asked Jeb Bush about how he plans to combat frustration among the public with members of two political families — the Bushes and the Clintons — trying to win the White House again in 2016.
“I have enough self-awareness to know that that is an oddity,” Bush said.
In order to push back about negative public perceptions of political dynasties, he needs to “show [his] heart,” share his ideas and his leadership skills, Bush said.
“Not just to yap about it but to do it,” he said. “And if I do that, then the Bush dynasty thing and all that Clinton-Bush deal — all that stuff subsides. That’s my plan. If you’ve got a better one, let me know.”
His answer comes a day after his brother, George W. Bush, said acknowledged that he might pose a problem for Jeb Bush and plans to keep his distance during any potential campaign.
“That’s why you won’t see me out there, and he doesn’t need to defend me, and he’s totally different from me,” the former president said, according to Politico. “The role of family is not to be a political adviser or a policy adviser — there are plenty of those around — the role is to say, ‘Hey man, I love you.'”
Jeb Bush also broke the rules of his diet to dig into some pie at the New Hampshire event.
