Phil Ammann
For someone newly “unemployed,” Jeb Bush looked pretty good Wednesday night.
At the Greenwich, Conn. reception held to raise money for “Right to Rise,” Bush’s new political action committee, he took an indirect jab at fellow prospective presidential candidate Hillary Clinton .
Debuting this week, “Rise” is considered by many to be a major step towards launching a 2016 presidential run.
Greenwich, where the reception was held, is not only a hotbed of high-profile financiers, but it is also hometown of both Jeb’s father, former president George H.W. Bush, and his grandfather, former U.S. Sen. Prescott Bush.
Bush critiqued Hillary after several contributors asked the 61-year-old former Florida governor to handicap the 2016 presidential field.
Although Bush didn’t name Clinton by name, Neil Vigdor of CTNews.com reports a number of attendees heard him say the former secretary of state must answer for foreign policy blunders of the Obama administration.
Amid Bush’s own White House plans, one event insider told reporters that the former governor brushed off the idea of a “Clinton mystique.”
“If someone wants to run a campaign about 90s nostalgia,” Bush said, “It’s not going to be very successful.”
Bush addressed about 175 prospective supporters, speaking for a half-hour before taking questions, including one on the so-called “Bush fatigue.”
As for his employment status, Bush resigned from all corporate and nonprofit boards as of Jan. 1, underscoring his standing as “his own man.”
When asked about independence from his famous lineage, Vigdor writes Bush’s response was, “Do you have a father? Do you have a brother? Are you the same person?’”
Among the guests were heavyweights from the financial services industry, as well as politicos loyal to former Presidents George W. and George H.W. Bush, many of whom gave $5,000 to “Right to Rise.”
Once such person was David Walker, a past U.S. comptroller general under both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who reported being impressed with the performance.
“He was clearly on tonight,” Walker said, adding that he thought Bush was “personable and forthright.”
