NEVER REFER TO THEM AS "JEB" AND "HILLARY"

I have a new rule that I insist everyone who opposes both John Ellis Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton must follow.  It is simply this: DO NOT do them the favor of calling them "Jeb" (his initials, JEB, get it?) and "Hillary."  Instead, I insist that from now on they be referred to either by their first and last name or, whenever possible, as simply "Bush" and "Clinton."

This may seem trivial but it's actually not trivial at all.  Don't think for a minute that they don't want to be referred to by the one name.  Calling them "Jeb" and "Hillary" doesn't cut them down to size at all.  You're playing their game whenever you do it. They prefer it that way, for a couple of reasons. 

First of all, they like the rock-star cache of the solo name, a la Bono or Madonna or Oprah or dozens of other celebrities.  They see themselves as big deals and so they enjoy the big-deal status symbol of being simply "Jeb" and "Hillary."  For elitists like them it's politically advantageous to foster a certain familiarity that comes with being on a first-name basis with the voters.

Secondly, while there are political advantages to being "Jeb" and "Hillary," there are also disadvantages to being "Bush" and "Clinton." They know that most Americans are not excited about the spectacle of another Bush/Clinton presidential election, 24 years after one person's father lost to the other person's husband.  Are you kidding me?  It's ridiculous that such a thing is even being contemplated. Even Bush's mother understood that...once upon a time, anyway.

Things are different now:

Jeb Bush came here this weekend to bask in the glow of his extended family. His sister called him "remarkable and brilliant," a president-in-waiting. His mother said she had changed her mind, that it was time after all for another Bush in the White House. And his father, the 41st president, cheered him on.

Yet even as Bush embraced his dynastic family as relatives, he tried not to get saddled by them as politicians. When a reporter asked how he might have handled differently his brother's unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush said: "I won't talk about the past; I'll talk about the future. . . . It's not about re-litigating anything in the past."

When it comes to wrangling massive campaign donations the Bush (and Clinton) names are very useful.  With the voters, not so much:

Wrestling with how to handle the legacies of the two previous, controversial presidents in the family, Bush and his advisers say one of his foremost challenges will be to establish his own political identity distinct from theirs, just as he did in two successful campaigns for governor in Florida.

The campaign stickers his supporters wore back then, and which they are sporting anew these days, say "Jeb!" with no hint of the Bush name that comes after.

Yes, "Jeb!" is looking to buy the GOP nomination so that he can run against the wife of his brother's best bud...Bill Clinton. Seriously, WTF?  Keep in mind that Hillary Clinton's primary super PAC is called "Ready For Hillary" and not "Ready For Another Clinton" for a reason.

These supremely arrogant oligarchs have oceans of money to splash around in. There's nothing to be done about that. However, their last names are liabilities among decent people and we, ultimately, decide things with our votes. 

We can't stop them from profiting off their family names but we can make them pay for those names by constantly reminding everybody exactly who they are and what they represent. They are Bush and Clinton.  And that's it!

Also read: A signal of distaste for dynasties bodes ill for Bush, Clinton