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Jeb Bush: ‘I have a life journey of my own’
By Paul Briand
Jeb Bush introduced himself to a crowd in a conference room on the third floor of 1 New Hampshire Avenue in the Pease Tradeport on Wednesday as the son of George H.W. and Barbara Bush and the brother of George W. Bush.
He acknowledged the family ties to the former presidents — George H.W. as the 41st president and George W. as the 43rd.
But the former Republican governor of Florida also sought to distinguish himself from the Bush presidencies as he returned to the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire in his likely quest to become the 45th president.
“I have a life journey of my own that sets me apart in some ways,” he said, giving the crowd a short bio of his life that included the “love at first sight” meeting in Mexico of the woman he would eventually marry – Columbia Garnica Gallo.
In answer to a question about Iraq — and would he have gone to war like his brother did knowing what we know now — he turned it around on President Barack Obama. “Knowing what you know now, Mr. President, should you have kept 10,000 troops in Iraq,” he said, citing the threat there of the self-described Islamic State (ISIS).
Here’s what Bush said:
In comments and in answers to questions from the Portsmouth audience, he spoke of leadership, the lack of optimism in the country, and the need to recreate consensus in areas where it’s been lost – Congress and with our allies.
On the lack of optimism, which he said comes from the doom and gloom attitude in the current White House, he said, “We don’t have to be reminded about how bad things are.”
He noted that the great accomplishments of the 20th century — the interstate highway system and the Civil Rights Act, for example — came by way of consensus. “The big things have always been done by consensus,” said Bush. He spoke of the need of more what he called “Nixon to China” moments.
He spoke of consensus in answer to a question about who he’d call immediately after settling into the Oval Office:
And he was asked about his priorities during his first 100 days in office, assuming he makes his way to the Oval Office. Here’s his answer:
He discussed other issues.
He opposes the national education standards of Common Core. “I’m not for the federal government being involved in the creation of standards,” he said. He said he believes in testing and he believes that each high school graduate should be either job ready or college ready. But it should be up to individual states to decide how that should be done. “New Hampshire can do whatever it wants, as far as I’m concerned. It’s a state issue,” he said.
Bush wants to restore past cuts to the military with an emphasis on the new threats related to terrorism and asymmetrical warfare. “These threats aren’t going away,” he said.
He said the country’s most vulnerable “go to the front of the line” when it comes to government aid. He said he didn’t get the memo that Republicans don’t care about “the most vulnerable.” “We do, and we know we do,” he said.
Live Free or Die Alliance
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Source: http://townhall.livefreeordiealliance.org/xn/detail/4091641:BlogPost:72079
