Jeb Bush: Obama's Less Popular than my Brother

Barack Obama wouldn’t have been elected had he "let us in on his secret plan prior to the election," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said in an interview with Esquire.

"Had he said what he was going to do as a candidate, [Obama] would have lost," Bush said. The former governor was most critical of the president’s spending practices, including the economic stimulus bill, as well as his "cap and trade" policy to regulate greenhouse gases.

Bush also played down the president's current popularity and suggested "there will be a push back." He told interviewer Tucker Carlson that his brother, former president George W. Bush, was more popular during his first 100 days than Mr. Obama.

"His popularity is no greater — in fact it's less — than what my brother's was during the beginning of his tenure, in a time of unbelievable friction," Bush said of the current president. "His approval ratings were higher than Barack Obama's during his first one hundred days."

As Carlson noted, however, Mr. Bush's approval ratings during his first hundred days were slightly lower than Mr. Obama’s. At the end of his 100 days, a Gallup poll showed Mr. Bush's approval rating at 62 percent. In April, Mr. Obama's approval rating was 65 percent, according to Gallup.

Bush, who passed on a chance to run for Senate last year, said he is not seeking the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. (Bush’s current situation, Carlson writes, offers no clear "path back to power.")

"I don't wake up each day assuming I'm the solution to life's problems," Bush said. "I am content to be part of the larger effort that creates the fertile ground for those candidates to run. To me, it's flattering when people seek my views."

Bush added that Republicans need to update their message if they want to recover from their present situation.

"We need to be talking about what the world looks like today and what it will look like going forward, rather than speaking in nostalgic terms about the past," Bush said.

He cited former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal as potential leaders for the GOP. As Carlson noted, Bush did not mention Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, or Mike Huckabee.

"If there's going to be a resurgence of the Republican party or the conservative movement, I think it's going to require some patience and some humility — less personal ambition and more advocacy of ideas and how they relate to people," Bush said.