Miami---Jeb Bush jumped headlong into the presidential race Monday, insisting "America deserves better" after eight years of Barack Obama, as the Republican seeks to win over votes skeptical of his political pedigree.
Following a lengthy exploration of a White House bid, Bush made his formal announcement at Miami Dade College, a diverse university chosen to signal that he aims to run an inclusive 2016 campaign.
"I have decided. I am a candidate for president of the United States," he said. As the crowd roared, a relieved Bush uttered: "Whooo!"
While he is the son and brother of two former presidents, Bush highlighted his own political vision and his two terms as governor of Florida.
"We made Florida number one in job creation and number one in small business creation," Bush said, boasting that he slashed taxes by $19 billion.
"I know we can fix this. Because I've done it."
Bush also stressed he would campaign everywhere and face the issues, rather than rely on his record and family name.
"I will take nothing and no one for granted. I will run with heart. I will run to win," he said.
He also stressed that as president he would take Washington "out of the business of causing problems."
The phrasing marked a jab at the four US senators in the race -- Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham and fellow Florida conservative Marco Rubio -- and suggested Americans should seek an outsider with executive experience.
Bush, 62, has been running a de facto campaign for six months, raising millions of dollars and increasing his international profile with a trip last week to Europe.
Following his speech in Miami, he will set about trying to prove that, although he comes from the Bush political dynasty, he is his own man.
While he highlighted his own record, he knocked the Obama adminstration for what he called the "phone-it-in foreign policy, the Obama-Clinton-Kerry team (that) is leaving a legacy of crises uncontained, violence unopposed, enemies unnamed, friends undefended, and alliances unravelling."
"You and I know that America deserves better," he said.
- Overcoming legacy of 'W.' -
Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner on the Democratic side, with no current close competition.
Nationally, Bush is bunched at the top of most Republican polls, but he is not the dominant figure many had expected.
He finished a dispiriting seventh last month in an Iowa poll, but dismisses his struggles to break free of the pack.
"People make up their mind in the last weeks of these primaries. So my expectation is that we'll have slow, steady progress," Bush told CNN.
He waded into a quagmire last month when he repeatedly stumbled over whether he would have authorized an invasion of Iraq.
AFP
