- The Washington Times - Monday, November 2, 2015

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will pitch himself Monday as a change agent who can fix a broken Washington, D.C., knocking President Obama for creating “competing pessimisms” during his time in the White House.

“This election is not about a set of personalities. It’s about a set of principles,” Mr. Bush is expected to say at a campaign event in Tampa Monday morning. “It is about leadership. It is about the right vision to lead America through turbulent waters, after two terms of a divider-in-chief who has sliced and diced the electorate by class, income, grievance and creed.”

Mr. Bush, a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, is looking to turn the page on a tough debate performance last week. He says in prepared remarks that for all Mr. Obama’s promise, perhaps his greatest accomplishment is “that of creating competing pessimisms.”

“The challenges we face as a nation are too great to roll the dice on another presidential experiment — to trust the rhetoric of reform over a record of reform,” Mr. Bush says in the prepared remarks. “After seven years of incompetence, corruption and gridlock in Washington, we need a president who can fix it. I can fix it.”

Mr. Bush is kicking off of a multiday trip across Florida, South Carolina and New Hampshire. He is also out with his previously announced e-book, “Reply All,” which is based on his email communications while he was governor.

“I went to Tallahassee as an agent of change. I turned the political culture of Tallahassee upside down,” Mr. Bush says. “I’m putting the Beltway on notice. I’ll turn Washington upside down, too.”

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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