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Mon Oct 26, 4:15 pm ET
George P. Bush, or "P" as he's known to some, is thought to be the biggest hope
for a fourth generation of Bush family political leaders, with some suggesting
that he might run for statewide office in Texas at some point in the next four
to eight years. But, as The Daily Beast points out today, any future George P.
Bush political ambitions will have to be put on hold as his Navy Reserve unit
is set to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in the coming weeks.
Lt. Junior Grade Bush, 33, joined the Navy Reserve in 2007 as an intelligence
officer. The Navy recently told him, like thousands of others, that the two
ongoing wars required him to go active-duty overseas, potentially in Iraq or
Afghanistan. "It's been communicated to me that it's not a question of 'if,'
it's a question of 'when,'" Bush told The Daily Beast. "It's just a matter of
time."
Bush, who said that he was inspired by the service of his grandfather George
H.W. Bush as well as former NFL star Pat Tillman, signed up for an eight-year
term in the Navy Reserve in 2007. When word got out about his enlistment, Bush
told Politico that he was "disappointed" as he'd intended to keep it under
wraps, saying, "I was hoping to keep this as confidential as possible. I'm not
doing it for political purposes or anything along those lines." However, prior
to his joining some opponents of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan roundly
criticized the Bush administration for the Bush family's lack of service in the
war effort, saying that if George W. Bush was willing to send the children of
other Americans into harm's way overseas, then George P. Bush and other
eligible Bush family members should join the armed services and risk their
lives fighting for the country as well.
Compared to JFK Jr. due to his good looks and seemingly effortless public
charisma, George Prescott Bush (his middle name honors his great-grandfather,
former U.S. Sen. Prescott Bush) is the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and
his wife, Columba Bush, who was born and raised in Mexico. Bush's half-Hispanic
bloodline aided his burst onto the American political scene in 2000, when he
helped his uncle George W. Bush rally up considerable Hispanic voter support by
speaking at the Republican National Convention and starring in Spanish-language
campaign ads, an effort that many feel helped Bush win the state of Florida's
electoral votes, which turned out to be the controversial determining factor in
the close election.
Born and raised in Florida, George P. Bush was a high school classmate of pop
star Enrique Iglesias. After high school, he attended Rice University in
Houston, where, just like his presidential uncle and grandfather, he was a
walk-on on his school's baseball squad, though he quit the team during his
sophomore year. After earning a degree in history from Rice, Bush got a job
teaching at a Miami-area agricultural community. After leaving that job to hit
the campaign trail in 2000, he entered law school at the University of Texas
after NYU, Yale, Harvard, and Columbia rejected his applications. While there,
he met his future bride, Amanda Williams, whom he asked to play golf on their
first date. After graduation, they both practiced law in Dallas before moving
to Austin in 2005. Bush now is a partner in a real estate investment firm while
his wife practices law.
Other than being arrested at 18 for burglarizing the home of an ex-girlfriend,
George P. Bush appears to have all the right credentials to carry the Bush
legacy well into the future. While family members often refer to the former
presidents Bush as "41" and "43," the Washington Post says that some close to
the family have taken to referring to George P. Bush as "47," so it's probably
safe to assume that those inside the family see him as a potential future Bush
torchbearer just as many outside the family do. Could a possible Bush vs. Biden
matchup be in the works for 2020 or 2024, with George P. Bush taking on Beau
Biden, the attorney general of Delaware and son of the current vice president
who also served in Iraq? In some circles, it may not be too early to speculate.