Bush family political heir is shipping off to war

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.