Jeb v. Hillary reading books . . .

I think Hillary Clinton should announce she will not run, and that Jeb Bush should do the same.

Wouldn't that be interesting? Wouldn't it clear the air? Kinda like lighting a match in a gassy toilet, a simple technique for instant air-freshening. Of course, opening doors and windows works, too. 

Clinton and Bush stepping out might open the way for, say, an Elizabeth Warren v. Rand Paul election.

Don't tell me how low the odds are of that happening. I get it. The billionaires won't commit. But think instead for a moment of what a stimulating, even exhilarating, presidential campaign that would be. To revert to a football analogy — though not much of a football fan, I did find myself enchanted by Super Bowl XLIX — it would be a passing game, rife with risks, interceptions and long yardage, full of touchdowns, as opposed to a running game all about concussions and running out the clock.

I don't like Hillary. Let me make it clear, it's not that she's a woman. (Please note my mention of Elizabeth Warren.) It's because she's Hillary and every day I have more reason to respect her even less. What does she stand for? What has she, ever stood for? It's true she did actually budge enough to assert in re the current measles outbreak that parents should get their kids vaccinated. In these United States this is called principle.

What does Jeb Bush have to say about measles, vaccines, climate change, evolution?

Jeb's the so-called intellectual Bush, as in he reads, supposedly even books. It could be that's a bad thing for a Bush. G.W. certainly never did much of it, nor did the omission of reading from his resume seem to perturb the electorate.

Reagan, did he read? What? Maybe some stuff in his youth but when he was governor of California? Absolutely nothing, I'm sure, and less, even less if that's possible, when he was President. He couldn't. As his son has attested, his father was sunny and altogether hollowed out.

Reagan was, as we now know, neurologically impaired. I don't mean to knock people with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. I'm on record in favor of acknowledging and appreciating neurological change and neurological diversity.

But when you have a President who acts as if nothing is wrong when there's nothing much left, mentally, that isn't neurological diversity. It's scary.

Let me return to where I started: I'd like it if Hillary Clinton stepped off the stage left as Jeb Bush steeped off right.

Won't happen, I know.

Instead, we'll be stuck with a lot of neurological/ neuro-typical gridlock.