Former President George W. Bush will be among the keynote speakers at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s spring meeting, the group announced in an email to supporters Thursday obtained by the Washington Examiner.
The announcement could suggest that Bush, who has been largely absent from the political arena since the end of his presidency, is heading back on to the campaign trail to help his brother Jeb Bush, who will likely run for president.
George W. Bush has made no secret of his desire for Jeb Bush to run for president, with public remarks on many occasions vouching support for his brother’s potential candidacy.
“I hope Jeb runs,” Bush told CNN in March of last year. “I think he would be a great president.”
But Jeb Bush continues to wrestle with how his last name, and all of its positive and negative connotations, will factor in to his bid for the presidency.
“It’s an interesting challenge for me,” Bush said Wednesday at the Detroit Economic Club. “If I have any self awareness, this might be the place where it would have to be applied.”
Still, Jeb Bush has remained fiercely protective of his brother and father’s political legacies — even as he hopes to run a campaign independent of them.
“It doesn’t bother me a bit to be proud of them. I love them,” Bush said in Detroit. “But I know for a fact if I’m going to be successful … then I’m going to have to do it on my own.”
In addition to George W. Bush, House Speaker John Boehner and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who is thought to be mulling a presidential bid in 2016, are also slated to speak at the RJC meeting.
The meeting will be held April 24-26 in Las Vegas at the Venetian Hotel, which is owned by political mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.
