‘Right to rise’: Jeb Bush road-tests 2016 campaign message

Republican Jeb Bush used his first major policy speech since saying he was actively considering running for president in 2016 to speak about the need to lift the fortunes of America's lower earners and middle class.

In a speech in Detroit, Mr Bush, son of the 41st president and brother to the 43rd, debuted what he called a “new vision” of greater economic opportunity for Americans left behind by the widening income gulf with the rich, offering people “the right to rise,” a phrase he used six times.

The words are taken from the name of the political action committee set up by Mr Bush to explore a possible presidential bid as he sounds out big-money donors, political operatives and the party’s grassroots on their support for his campaign.

In his speech in Detroit on Wednesday, Mr Bush, seen as the leading establishment candidate in the large Republican field of possible presidential contenders, appeared to be road-testing a message that will likely be the driving policy of his presidential bid.

Although long on rhetoric and short on detail, the former Florida governor signalled how he plans to position himself in his expected presidential campaign on income inequality and social mobility, two crucial issues with national voters in the next race for the White House.

Mr Bush appeared to set himself apart from traditional Republicans who oppose heavy spending on social welfare in favour of reductions in taxes to help business and stimulate economic growth.

Characterising the country’s economic comeback as a recovery that has benefited only the wealthiest individuals and companies, Mr Bush said that too many have missed out on the country’s economic uptick.

American mirage

“The recovery has been everywhere but in the family paycheques,” Mr Bush said in a speech at the Detroit Economic Club. “The American dream has become a mirage for far too many.

“So the central question we face here in Detroit and across America is this: can we restore the dream, that moral promise, that each generation can do better?”

Contrasting himself sharply with 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who remarked that "47 per cent" of Americans expected government support and saw themselves as victims, Mr Bush said financially struggling Americans are not held back by a "lack of ambition" and "not because they're lazy or see themselves as victims". They are held back by "an artificial weight on their shoulders", he said.

“Americans across the country are frustrated. They see only a small portion of the population riding the economy’s up escalator,” he said.

The former two-term governor, who has not held public office since 2007 and last ran in a political campaign 13 years ago, spoke from a teleprompter and appeared rusty at times.

Presented by his aides as “reforming conservativism”, Mr Bush’s speech tests a policy that is similar to the “compassionate conservativism” that helped his brother win two presidential terms.

Strong symbolism

Picking Detroit as the location for the message carries strong symbolism given that the city, once an economic powerhouse of middle-class prosperity during the boom in America’s motor industry, has fallen on hard times, with the loss of many high-paying jobs.

Mr Bush tied the city’s economic collapse to the failures of Democratic policies, blaming “decades of big government policies,” “petty politics” and “chronic mismanagement.”

“The troubles of Detroit are echoes of the troubles facing Washington, DC,” he told about 500 members of the economic club.

Asked by an audience member afterwards how the former presidencies of his father and brother might weigh on his own political ambitions, Mr Bush praised them both but said: “I know I’m going to have to do it on my own.”