A day after announcing his intention to make a run for the White House, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush “slow jammed the news” with Jimmy Fallon, playfully rebuffing a "Fifty Shades of Grey" joke and saying he is eager to start talking about the issues.
"I'm looking forward to hitting the campaign trail and discussing the issues that are important to all Americans — and having spirited debates with my fellow Republicans about how to solve them," Bush said during an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."
Bush said his record of cutting taxes, passing a school choice system in Florida and creating an estimated 1.3 million jobs as governor qualifies him for the nation’s highest office. Bush on Monday officially kicked off his 2016 presidential run after months of speculation.
"We face an important election in 2016," Bush said on the show. "Whoever we choose will be tasked with changing the course of our country and whipping America back into shape."
When Fallon made a crack referencing the steamy book "Fifty Shades of Grey," Bush responded, "Jimmy, I think I speak for all Americans when I say, 'Eww.'"
On immigration, Bush said, “Well, Jimmy, we’re a nation of immigrants, and I believe everyone should have the chance to achieve the American Dream.” He drew cheers when he repeated the line in Spanish.
"Whoa, woah, woah, hold the telefono," Fallon quipped. "I know you just got back from Miami, but I didn’t think I was interviewing Governor Pitbull," referring to the Miami rap artist.
Bush discussed his wife, his Paleo Diet and shared a coquito cocktail with Fallon, but when discussing his vision for the country focused on the economy.
Asked how he would convince younger audience members to vote for him, Bush said, “I think we need high sustained economic growth where they can get jobs, that’s what I think." Asked what he would say to audience members 60 years old and older, Bush repeated the line but added, "to them I would just say it louder,” drawing laughs.
In announcing his candidacy Monday at Miami Dade University, Bush criticized what he called the “phone-it-in foreign policy of President Barack Obama and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, and said the presidency "should not be passed on from one liberal to the next."
Asked by Fallon about comparisons people could make to Bush’s brother, President George W. Bush, and father, President George H.W. Bush, Jeb Bush said he has to make his own agenda.
"It’s complicated 'cause I love them a lot, I know I’ve got to distinguish myself, that’s what campaigns are about,” Bush said. “My dad is the most perfect man I’ve ever met, he’s the greatest man alive … it’s impossible to even worry about that, there’s no comparison."
And my brother I would say is a significantly better artist than I am," Bush said. "I’m still doing stick drawings. He can actually paint, he’s phenomenal — and I’m a whole lot younger and a lot better looking."
