Governors, not U.S. senators, have the necessary experience to be president, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday at the National Review Ideas Summit in Washington.
"Governors have to lead and make decisions," Bush said,
The Hill reports. "They have to persuade and convince.
"They actually have to compromise from time to time, and those skills apply directly to the presidency," he said, "and there’s enough examples of governors that have been extraordinary in the area of foreign policy, starting with Ronald Reagan."
During an editorial board interview with the
Des Moines Register last month, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who Bush mentored in his rise to national office, argued the opposite, saying senators have crucial foreign policy experience, something governors lack.
"I believe that I take over on Day One as president prepared to lead this country in the most crucial obligation the president faces, as commander in chief," Rubio said.
"Governors can certainly read about foreign policy, and take briefings and meet with experts, but there is no way they'll be ready on Day One to manage U.S. foreign policy."
Bush, who has refused to sign the Americans for Tax Reform pledge to never raise taxes, said voters should look at his record as a two-term governor and not at a symbolic pledge, something that the three Republican senators — Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — who are seeking the presidency have all signed.
"I cut taxes every year, $19 billion," Bush said. "Nobody comes close to that record."
"If you’ve served in the United States Senate over the last eight or six years, no tax cut has taken place," he said. "This president has raised taxes $1 trillion to fund Obamacare.
"Anybody associated with Washington, D.C., can talk about this kind of stuff, but ... the places where taxes have been cut are places like Florida, where they were led by a conservative governor who thought this was important."
Bush also made light of characterizations of him as a Washington insider, according to The Hill.
"I’m not a United States senator and thank God," he said. "I live in Miami, I’m outside of Washington."
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