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US Presidential campaign 2016: Jeb Bush announces he will run for White House, but already he looks wilted by the competition US Presidential campaign 2016: Jeb Bush announces he will run for White House, but already he looks wilted by the competition
(about 1 hour later)
Jeb Bush tonight formally plunged into the 2016 race to become President of the United States with a campaign that will emphasise both his conservative record as a former governor of Florida and his commitment to building a more inclusive Republican Party. What it will not emphasise are some of his family connections. Beneath a tapestry of American flags and giant banners bearing only his first name, plus an exclamation mark – the reasons for the brevity clear to all – Jeb Bush, the son and brother of former presidents made it official: he is taking his own turn to bring the family back into the Oval Office one more time.
"Our country is on a very bad course," he said at Miami Dade College campus. "And the question is: What are we going to do about it? “The question for me is: What am I going to do about it? And I have decided. I am a candidate for president of the United States." A slimmed-down Mr Bush made his announcement that he is running for the White House next year inside the gymnasium of Miami Dade College, a Florida campus known for the social diversity of its students.
Even the venue for his debut rally sent out a message of inclusion – a college campus in Miami known for the diversity of its students – as did a first campaign video released at the weekend. It featured a black woman, a Latino man and the mother of an autistic child thanking him for what he had done as governor of the state. Battling repeated interruptions by supporters – and briefly by protesters demanding citizenship for illegal residents – he vowed to run an inclusive campaign for the Republican Party nomination, embracing all and ignoring no one.
“So many people could do so much better if we fixed a few things,” said Mr Bush, who was Florida governor from 1999 to 2007. “My core beliefs start with the premise that the most vulnerable in our society should be in the front of the line, not the back. And as governor, I had a chance to act on that core belief.” He declared: “I will campaign as I would serve, going everywhere, speaking to everyone, keeping my word, facing the issues without flinching and staying true to what I believe.”
But if Mr Bush is intent on reviving the “compassionate conservatism” message used by George W Bush when he first ran for the White House, he will duck away from his older brother’s controversial legacy. Neither he nor their father George H W Bush – both former presidents – were to be seen at last night’s event. Even the newly minted campaign logo spoke volumes in its brevity: “Jeb!” Not that anyone need ask, “Jeb who?” Jeb Bush has yet to win over the Republican right and has a fight on his hands against rivals (Reuters)
“Jeb is different than George,” said the former Florida governor in an interview with CNN on the eve of his rally here. “I don’t have to disassociate myself from my family. I love them but I know that, for me to be successful, I’m going to have to show my heart and tell my story.” Mr Bush, the former Governor of Florida, added: “I will take nothing and no one for granted. I will run with heart. I will run to win.”
John Ellis Bush, 62, who first signalled his interest in running last December and has since been engaged in a frenzy of fundraising, nonetheless gains advantages from the family brand. In a year when as many as 20 candidates may seek the Republican nomination, he is assured name recognition and a wide network of potential donors. As Mr Bush left Florida last night for New Hampshire, he took a swipe at President Barack Obama and the likely Democratic Party nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Jeb Bush has yet to win over the Republican right and has a fight on his hands against rivals (Reuters) While his record as a conservative is solid, Mr Bush still faces scepticism from the right of the party, which recoils at his support for immigration reform and national educational standards known as Common Core. But he has refused to budge on either issue, in part in the belief that Mitt Romney sealed his own fate four years ago by pandering to the right and then trying to shift back to the centre. “The presidency should not be passed on from one liberal to the next,” he said. “The party now in the White House is planning a no-suspense primary, for a no-change election. To hold on to power. To slog on with the same agenda under another name: that’s our opponents’ call to action this time around.”
The assumption, meanwhile, that Mr Bush would quickly establish himself as the frontrunner has faded. He is now tied with some of his rivals nationally, notably Senator Marco Rubio, a former protégé and now US Senator from Florida, and Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin. More ominously, he is not looking especially strong in the states that kick off the nominating process, such as Iowa. The 11th Republican to plunge in – the tycoon and television personality Donald Trump – has threatened to unveil his own presidential campaign today.
The troubles started in May when Mr Bush stumbled when asked to say if he would have invaded Iraq in 2003 as his brother did, had he known it did not have weapons of mass destruction. Only after a few days did he concede that he would not have done. Last week, while he was on a three-nation tour of Europe, Mr Bush reshuffled his campaign team, even before the campaign was launched. John Ellis Bush, 62, first signalled his interest in running for the presidency last December and has since been engaged in a frenzy of fund-raising. But there has been no quick leap for him to front-runner status because of some missteps, some early friction in his campaign team and the rise of Senator Marco Rubio – once Mr Bush’s protégé in South Florida but now, arguably, his most potent rival.
Still, there is a very long way to go even until the primary process begins – the first Republican debate will be in August – and certainly until the election in November 2016. Much can change. If Mr Bush prevails and wins the nomination, of course, the US could see a clash of dynasties; Hillary Clinton is the clear favourite, for now, to get the Democrat nod.
Marco Rubio has a Florida power base and will be vying for funds with Jeb Bush (AP)Marco Rubio has a Florida power base and will be vying for funds with Jeb Bush (AP)
“Once Americans are reminded, shown and discover the depth of his leadership as governor and the things he accomplished, I think his numbers will rise,” said Ron Kaufman, a Republican consultant who worked for Mitt Romney in 2012 and who now backs Mr Bush for the Republican candidacy. That Mr Bush may not be measuring up came into focus in May when he stumbled when asked to say whether he would have invaded Iraq in 2003 as his brother George W Bush did, had he known that it did not have weapons of mass destruction. Only after a few days did he concede that he would not have done. His inability to answer a question that was so obviously coming perplexed many Republicans, including his supporters.
Perhaps most alarming for Mr Bush has been Senator Rubio’s sudden rise to the top of the early polling. He is building his campaign in part on contrasting his youthfulness with the ages of Mr Bush and Mrs Clinton. Once mentor and pupil, Messrs Bush and Rubio are now locked in unexpected rivalry. Winning the primary in Florida is likely to be a live-or-die proposition for both of them. With the televised debate between the Republican hopefuls set for August, the pressure will be on Jeb Bush quickly to regain momentum. The legacy of his elder brother is, of course, ticklish. Their father, former President George H W Bush, was not present at Monday’s rally, but their mother, the 90-year-old former First Lady, Barbara Bush, took her seat to loud applause. Jeb Bush’s wife Columba, who is known to be shy, was also in the hall.
But Mr Rubio struck a conciliatory tone. “In politics, people throw around the word ‘friend’ so much it often has little real meaning,” he said in a statement. “This is not one of those times. When I call Jeb Bush my friend, I mean he is someone I like, care for and respect ... He is a passionate advocate for what he believes, and I welcome him to the race.” “We will take Washington – the static capital of this dynamic country – out of the business of causing problems,” Mr Bush said in a pitch to the party’s small-government conservatives. “We will get back on the side of free enterprise and free people. I know we can fix this. Because I’ve done it.”
Mr Bush governed Florida from 1999 to 2007, and did indeed follow a stringently conservative agenda.
If launch events say anything about the campaign to come, Mr Bush may yet be in trouble. Supporters eager to see him endured an hour of disjointed warm-up acts, including three sisters playing guitars. The affair contrasted sharply with the energy-filled rally Ms Clinton held in New York on Saturday.
More threatening, though, are his clashing messages. On the one hand, he echoes the “compassionate conservative” that was the slogan of George W when he first ran, vowing to support immigration reform even though conservatives hate it, and to champion the disadvantaged, including minorities.
Yet he is pitching himself as a radical conservative, supportive of curbing abortion and opposing gay marriage. He recently told an interviewer that it was “hard to imagine how we are going to succeed in this country” if it allowed gay marriage.
And he lashed out at Mr Obama’s efforts to thaw diplomatic relations with Cuba, saying: “We don’t need a glorified tourist to go to Havana in support of a failed Cuba. We need an American president to go to Havana in solidarity with a free Cuban people, and I am ready to be that president.”
For many Republicans in South Florida, especially those with Latin backgrounds, the dilemma is choosing between Mr Rubio and Mr Bush, one a son of Cuban immigrants, the other married to a Mexican.
“I don’t know which I like better. They are both honest men,” said Teresa Prieto, 69, a Cuban-American who left Cuba in 1960, as she arrived for the rally. “I am not supporting them because I am Cuban but because we have to pick someone who can win. I am terrified of the Democrats. Terrified, terrified.”