'Jeb!' Bush: A new logo and the politics of punctuation
Maybe you鈥檝e noticed that in advance of today鈥檚 official announcement that he鈥檚 running for president, Jeb Bush has started using a . It鈥檚 鈥淛eb!鈥� That鈥檚 right, he鈥檚 using his nickname (his given name is John Ellis Bush) followed by an exclamation point. The family surname isn鈥檛 in there.
In us, this produced a sudden pang of political nostalgia. An exclamation point! Often used to convey an image of folksy excitement! Especially for candidates who might not otherwise bring such an emotion to mind!
Former-and-current Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander used exclamation points in his 1996 presidential campaign logo. 鈥淟amar!鈥� didn鈥檛 make it to the White House that time, or in his 2000 follow-up attempt. Neither did Nelson Rockefeller, who used 鈥淩ocky!鈥� during one of his numerous failed 鈥�60s era attempts to win the Oval Office.
Jeb! must be thinking that the third candidate鈥檚 the charm, in terms of this particular use of amped-up punctuation.
Of course, he鈥檚 used it successfully before. 鈥淛eb!鈥� was the logo for his winning 1998 Florida gubernatorial campaign. As numerous analysts are pointing out this morning, his political consultant then, Mike Murphy, is one of his consultants now. Also, Murphy was an adviser to Senator Alexander. So 鈥淢ike!鈥� is obviously a big fan of this logo style.
In fact, he鈥檚 such a fan he鈥檚 already taken to Twitter to defend the exclamation point against its detractors. 鈥淛eb!鈥� is clean, easy to see from a distance, upbeat, and conveys a consistent message, according to Murphy. Also, he insists it is superior to Hillary Clinton鈥檚 counterpart.
鈥淎nd, gotta say, Hilary logo looks like parking lot directions for a French hospital,鈥� tweeted Murphy on Sunday.
One other 鈥淛eb!鈥� advantage may be a gain by omission: Bush鈥檚 politically problematic last name isn鈥檛 included. It鈥檚 not 鈥淛eb Bush!鈥� 鈥� which might bring back memories of his brother鈥檚 presidential issues and the whole dynasty thing.
鈥淥mitting his last name is a rather obvious ploy for obvious reasons,鈥� writes left-leaning Ed Kilgore at today.
Of course, that line might hold for the leading Democratic candidate as well. That Hillary logo is just a stylized 鈥淗.鈥� No 鈥淐linton鈥� included.
