Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who many in the beltway media is pegging as the Republican front-runner for the 2016 presidential race, told NBC News on March 4 that he is still interested in putting his name in the hat.
Bush was a guest on NBC's Today Show to discuss the current state of the Republican Party. He did not confirm that he was running for president in 2016, but he also told Today Show host Matt Lauer that he is not ruling out the possibility of making a run for Washington D.C. He told Matt Lauer:
I have a voice; I want to share my beliefs about how the conservative movement and the Republican Party can regain its footing, because we've lost our way. But I won't declare (a run for president) today either.
Instead of announcing a run for the presidency, Bush offered his thoughts on the current fiscal problems plaguing Congress. He offered his view on the sequester, calling it a "temporary problem in our history". He said:
The president kind of led the charge to say that widows and orphans were going to be out on the street, and so when it didn't happen, he actually himself kind of steeped back on Friday and said it wasn't going to happen that way.
He also said that the hype around the sequester was "oversold" and "people are just numbed by the dysfunction and they watch it with their peripheral vision". He also offered his point of view on the recent presidential race and put the blame on his own party and Mitt Romney for not garnering more Hispanic and minority voters. He said:
Gov. Romney put himself in a box, I think, in the primary by trying to out (conservative) conservatives, some very good conservative candidates, and never really recovered from that.
He also said that Republicans should be more mindful of the Immigration issue. He said that Republicans need to recognize that the issue is important to them. He said:
It's a gateway. If you set a tone that you don't want people to be part of your team, they don't join you.
Bush is the former Gov. of Florida who is best known for reforming the education landscape in the Sunshine State.
Comments