Jeb Bush’s statement Wednesday that Americans should “work longer hours” thrust the Democratic attack machine into high gear for the first time this cycle, as operatives seized on the opportunity to paint the GOP’s leading 2016 contender with the same devastating brush they used on Mitt Romney four years ago.

As Bush’s communications shop urged reporters to note the context and diverted attention by releasing Bush’s aggressive fundraising numbers, Democrats engaged in tweet storms and press calls aimed at establishing a negative narrative around Bush.


Their objective isn’t just a few days of bad news coverage that might diminish his standing in the Republican primary field; it’s to establish a critique that will endure for the duration of the campaign.

“They’re trying to make it 47 percent, part two,” said Rick Wilson, a GOP strategist who’s advised presidential campaigns, in reference to Romney’s videotaped comments at a private fundraiser disparaging the 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax.

“The reactions to this are ridiculous,” Wilson said. “It is based on a silly and deliberate misreading of the intent of the statement, but there’s a critical mass to it that makes it more problematic. It’s a signifier of how the campaign is right now that Democrats look at him as the most likely nominee and Republicans all look at him as the guy they have to kill.”

The comments on Wednesday were a bad stumble after Bush had been enjoying a relatively gaffe-free couple of months and a surge in the polls since his June 15 presidential announcement.

Bush’s initial comments came in Manchester, New Hampshire Wednesday during an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader that was Periscoped.

“My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see,” Bush said in the meeting. “Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours.”

Over the next several hours, Democrats seized on that statement and started criticizing Bush, prompting the candidate to clarify his remarks to reporters following a town hall in Hudson, New Hampshire that evening. Asked if he meant that someone already working 40 hours a week should work additional hours, Bush replied, “Absolutely not. Their incomes need to grow.”

He continued, lamenting the high cost of health care and other factors he believes are choking off entrepreneurship: “Workforce participation rates are low. If anyone is celebrating this anemic recovery, then they are totally out of touch. The simple fact is people are really struggling. So giving people a chance to work longer hours has got to be part of the answer. If not, you are going to see people lose hope. And that’s where we are today.”

If Bush’s team is frustrated that Democrats — and some initial news reports — missed that context and Bush’s point that millions of part-time workers should have opportunities to work full-time, it’s because they know how the game is played.

Just as Republicans in 2012 turned “You didn’t build that” into a galvanizing rallying cry aimed at highlighting President Barack Obama’s contempt for small business owners, Democrats now are seizing on Bush’s comment to Romnify Bush, who’s made humility, transparency and accessibility cornerstones of his campaign thus far.

Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, was quick out of the gates. She took a shot at Bush on Twitter Wednesday night.

“Anyone who believes Americans aren’t working hard enough hasn’t met enough American workers,” Clinton tweeted, along with a chart showing increases in worker productivity far outpacing worker pay.

According to a Gallup poll last year, full-time American workers clock 47 hours a week and four in 10 work at least 50 hours a week. Bush, firing back, made it clear he wasn’t referring to them.

“Anyone who discounts 6.5 million people stuck in part-time work & seeking full-time jobs hasn’t listened to working Americans,” he tweeted.

Of course, that explanation hasn’t stopped cable news networks — not just MSNBC, but also Fox News — from focusing on the story Thursday. It hasn’t stopped the social media backlash: one tweet referred to Bush as “the Bill Lumbergh” of 2016, a reference to the infamous boss in the film Office Space who’d inform his most disgruntled employee he’d be needing him to work on Saturday. Nor has it stopped a Democratic onslaught that may be just beginning.

The Democratic National Committee condemned Bush’s remarks, saying they reveal how he is “out-of-touch” and removed from the widespread concerns of middle-class Americans.

Americans United for Change, a Democratic advocacy organization, put together a conference call Thursday afternoon to criticize Bush and to argue that workers need higher pay for the hours they do work (Bush opposes raising the minimum wage).

“It may be easy for Jeb to sit extra hours at his many corporate board meetings, but the average American worker — many of whom [are] doing physically demanding jobs — already clocks in 47 hours a week while wages remain stagnant,” said Brad Woodhouse, the group’s director, in a press release.

Some of Bush’s Republican rivals will also be tempted to criticize him for the remarks as the primary race heats up, reminding voters and donors alike that the party can’t afford another nominee who the Democrats can Romnify.

Ted Cruz’s campaign made a first pass. “It would seem to me that Gov Bush would want to avoid the kind of comments that led voters to believe that Governor Romney was out of touch with the economic struggles many Americans are facing,” said Rick Tyler, the national spokesman for Cruz’s campaign.

And it’s not just Cruz’s campaign.

“The person working three jobs to make ends meet might take offense to a millionaire telling him/her to just work a little longer and harder,” said an operative for a rival GOP campaign. “Romney redux.”