No Declaration, But Bush Sounds Like Presidential Candidate in NADA Talk

SAN FRANCISCO – Jeb Bush stays clear of declaring plans for a presidential bid, but he sounds very much like a candidate for the White House in a talk here to the 2015 NADA Convention & Exposition on Friday.

It’s a packed room as automobile dealers fill the seats and line the walls along the sides and back of a Mascone Center auditorium to hear Bush speak. An overflow crowd spills out into the hallway and watches on closed-circuit TV.

During the speech, Bush calls for immigration, education and tax-code reform and says better leadership is needed in Washington to end the gridlock that has “shut down the government for the past six years.”

But asked later in a sit-down dialogue with 2014 NADA Chairman Forrest McConnell III what his plans were for Jan. 17, 2017, inauguration day, Bush demurs, saying he has set up an exploratory committee but has made no decision.

“Until we get to the rest of it, Jan. 17, is just another day,” he says.

Later, when McConnell says Bush appears “on the fence” about the presidency, the former two-time Florida governor replies, “No, I’m not. I’m seriously considering the possibility of running.”

But Bush’s talk clearly is aimed at the White House, as he criticizes what he considers President Obama’s weak foreign policy, calls the Obama-spearheaded national health-care law “a job killer” and advocates the creation of a new immigration policy that would be “economically driven.”

He tells immigrants to “come to our country, embrace our values, learn English and work and you can be as American as anyone else.”

Although he doesn’t go far into specifics, Bush advocates a “stem-to-stern” reform of education, saying 3 million jobs have gone unfilled in America due to a skills gap.

Bush confirms he met with 2012 Republican presidential nominee and possible 2016 candidate Mitt Romney yesterday, but says the “awkward side about running (for president) we put aside.”

He says instead the two talked about the (New England) Patriots, headed for the Super Bowl but mired in a cheating scandal, “a little politics and foreign policy.”

In his speech, Bush lobbies for less government interference on business, saying regulations cost automobile dealers $3.2 billion a year. “That could be used to create jobs,” he says.

Bush, a Republican, spoke here without any of the controversy Democrat Hillary Clinton faced a year-ago in addressing the 2014 NADA convention. Although she was warmly received, some opposed her appearance on the grounds that potential political candidates should not be given a platform to campaign at the event.

On the lighter side, Bush reveals he just bought a Ford Fusion – and perhaps in a subtle knock at the former First Lady and Secretary of State, says, “For the record I do drive. But I’m traveling so often I don’t get to use (the car) much.” Last year, Clinton revealed the Secret Service would not allow her to drive.

Bush takes a jab at the complexity of new cars as well, saying he needs to keep a 4-hour appointment at his dealership to learn how to operate his new Fusion. “It should be easier,” he says.

Asked to tell the audience something they didn’t know about him, Bush says he is an introvert.

“I would rather read a book than get in a Conga line,” he says, adding he learned to overcome the social barrier because “to promote your cause you have to connect with people.”

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