Segal: Jeb Bush can win. Here's how

Hillary finally made it official, and many are beginning to believe that Jeb Bush will somehow eke out wins in the Republican primaries and snare the Republican nomination, making it a Bush vs. Clinton 2016 run for the White House.

So, what if that happens? The answer might be in polls released this week by Bloomberg. While much has been made of the Clinton negatives in the overall poll, she still has a 48 percent approval rating among Democrats, Republican and independents and in others polls as high as 49 percent. Among Democrats alone, her approval is sky high, meaning the base is still with her.

The news for Jeb Bush is not as good. Among Republicans, his base, 42 percent said that they would not vote for Jeb Bush under any circumstance, according to the Bloomberg poll. A third of his base will not support him. That is devastating.

I was wondering why, and think I have an answer -- and a suggestion -- to help poor Jeb.

He seems to be a nice guy. He is bright, articulate and can speak from a teleprompter. He has the money and political team, so can't blame it on that. Only one conclusion, it's the Bush name and it seems to be tarnished by his brother, George W. So here's my solution.

Jeb, you have to change that last name and be upfront about it. Call a press conference and say, "I have strong positions, and it seems because of my name I can't get my message across." So I've decided to change it for this campaign so the people will listen.

Next is the choice of a name. Just think who the most popular people in the U.S. are and pick one.  That seems to be an easy choice as well. Oprah Winfrey. So is it Jeb Oprah or Jeb Winfrey? I'd go with Winfrey, and once you're Jeb Winfrey, you have an automatic joke to start your speeches with. "Good evening everyone, I'm Jeb Winfrey, and tonight everyone in the audience gets a car!" After the laughter dies down, you state, "No, I'm not that Winfrey but I do have good plans for our future."

Now get those name-changing documents signed and hit the campaign trail.

Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation's most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. You can follow him on Facebook  or Twitter @PhilaGayNews.