Controversy continues to rage over Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush‘s comments regarding wages and working hours.
On Wednesday, Bush told New Hampshire’s The Union Leader that to grow the economy, “we have to be a lot more productive, Workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of this rut that we’re in.”
As Liberals Unite reported earlier today, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was quick to jump on those comments, saying that Americans already work longer hours than employees in most other countries and shouldn’t be forced to “work even longer hours than they currently do.”
However, there’s another portion of that interview that is equally controversial – that part where Bush talks about foreign policy. During the interview he criticized President Barack Obama for the pending negotiations with Iran over nuclear weapons, saying that “This is the Clinton-Kerry-Obama foreign policy playing out.”
He went on to attack the president for having nuanced positions and using “big syllable words,” adding that “our enemies need to fear us.”
You don’t have to be the world’s policemen, but you have to be the world’s leader and there’s a huge difference. This guy, this president and Secretary Clinton and Secretary Kerry – when someone disagrees with their nuanced approach where it’s all kind of so sophisticated it makes no sense. You know what I’m saying?
Big syllable words and lots of fancy conferences and meetings and – We’re not leading. That creates chaos. It creates a more dangerous world. So restoring the alliances that have kept the world safer and our country safer – getting back to a position in the Middle East where there’s no light between Israel and the United States. The notion that the president has moved away from Israel – I think because of personal reasons – he has a bad relationship with B.B. Netanyahu is not — you don’t have to have good relationship with your counterparty, you have to recognize the security importance of that relationship. It’s not just for us and for Israel, it’s for the Middle East.
And recognizing that, recognizing the importance of North America we’ve managed to insult our neighbors to the north, our largest trading partner. Those relationships need to be restored.
There needs to be a sense that the United States is going to have the back of our friends and allies or they’re going to change their patterns and their paths. And our enemies need to fear us. That’s the lessons of history.
You can watch Bush in action by going to this clip on C-Span, edited specifically to show only the excerpt above.
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