Jeb Bush made his Iowa debut Friday night, pitching himself as a conservative governor, while taking a swipe at President Barack Obama and his “former Secretary of State” Hillary Clinton.
The former Florida governor who is making his first appearance in Iowa this weekend as a potential 2016 Republican presidential contender, kicked off events at a fundraiser outside Des Moines for Rep. David Young, R-Iowa. Bush, who told the crowd that he plans to return “with regularity” to the state that plays an outsized role in the presidential primaries -- spoke for about 10 minutes before answering questions from a largely friendly crowd.
Indeed, his first questioner said she applauded his support for the Common Core education standards that have rankled many conservatives -- including some of his potential rivals.
“Raising expectations and having accurate assessments of where kids are is essential for success,” Bush said. “So I'm not going to back down on that.”
Bush, who is viewed warily by some conservatives in his party for his support of Common Core, touted his two terms as governor of Florida, saying he slashed taxes and took on entrenched unions.
“I have a record that I think people might be interested in learning about,” Bush said. “For eight years, I got to act on my conservative principles.”
On foreign policy, Bush was critical of Obama, suggesting he is “the first president since the post World War II era who does not believe that American power is a force for good.”
He accused Obama of retreating from the world and referred, though not by name to Hillary Clinton, who served as Obama’s secretary of state and is a likely 2016 Democratic candidate for president.
“There’s a lot of things we need to restore,” Bush said. “This president and, by the way, his former secretary of state, have let us down in this regard.”
Bush along with nearly a dozen other potential Republican candidates, on Saturday will answer questions at the first-ever Iowa Ag Summit.