Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush released a video Saturday that showed him opening up to potential voters as he nears an official decision on a White House run in 2016.
The clip, titled “Jeb: Today and tomorrow,” shows the likely Republican presidential candidate interacting with everyday Americans in early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
“If I’m going to go beyond the consideration of running for the highest office in the land, I need to share my heart to show a little bit about my life experience,” Bush says in the ad, which was posted on his Twitter account Saturday morning.
The footage first shows Bush speaking at events in Iowa, where he notes the amount of questions he’s answered from the public.
{mosads}“We’re probably around 800 to 900 questions asked and hopefully answered,” he says, a subtle criticism of former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the heavy favorite for the Democratic nomination next year.
Critics have accused Hillary Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, of lacking transparency on her political actions and positions.
Bush is next shown eating with townspeople at a New Hampshire diner in the clip.
He then praises his marriage to wife Columba Bush, whom he met in Mexico while teaching English as part of a foreign exchange program there.
“It was love at first sight,” he says of the pair’s meeting in 1970. “For the young guys here, it does happen – trust me, it happens.”
The video touts Bush’s record of achievements while serving as the governor of Florida between 1999 and 2007.
“We created a world-class business climate,” Bush says in the footage. “1.3 million net new jobs were created in eight years.
“Through hard work, we ended up having a system where there were more African-American and Hispanic kids attending our university system than prior to the system that was discriminatory,” he added.
The spot closes by highlighting some of Bush’s potential policy positions for the nation’s future.
“We fix how we tax, how we regulate, embrace the energy revolution that is here instead of trying to push it down, fix a broken immigration system, fix our entitlement system,” he says.
“This will be the most extraordinary time to be alive,” Bush says of those policies’ potential impact.
“I totally believe that, and I hope that you do too,” he adds. “Our children and our grandchildren are deserving of that very basic promise.”