CAYCE, S.C. (AP) – On his first extended trip to South Carolina this year, Jeb Bush blasted President Barack Obama as a failed leader and pitched himself as a principled conservative who gets things done.
“It’s the president’s responsibility to reweave the web of civility and to improve the discourse, and this guy does not believe it’s his priority or his mission to do that,” Bush said Tuesday during a stop in Greenville.
The former Florida governor also appeared to oppose federal minimum wage law. Asked about Democratic proposals to increase the hourly minimum of $7.25, Bush told the crowd at a chamber of commerce breakfast that “we ought to leave it to the private sector” and added that “state minimum wages are fine.”
At a later appearance in the Columbia area, Bush clarified that he does not want to abandon existing federal law setting a minimum wage, but opposes Congress increasing the current figure.
Bush has yet to formally declare his intention to run for president in 2016, but winked at the idea during his speech to a chamber of commerce breakfast, telling the crowd “you’ll be seeing a lot of me.”