Photograph by Wilfredo Lee/AP PhotoJeb Bush
Jeb Bush, who might have been the third member of his family to become president of the United States, says he missed “a window of opportunity” in not running this year.
“This was probably my time,” Bush said in an interview airing on CBS News’ “This Morning.”
“There’s a window of opportunity, in life, and for all sorts of reasons,” said Bush, former two-term Florida governor, brother of former President George W. Bush and son of former President George H.W. Bush.
This doesn’t mean there couldn’t be another window, he suggested.
“Have you made a decision that you don’t want to be president?” CBS host Charlie Rose asked Bush.
“I have not made that decision,” said Bush, who is 59.
Bush, who is more progressive than most of the contenders for president in his party this year on matters such as immigration, also noted: “I don’t know, given what I believe and how I believe it, I’m not sure I would have been successful as a candidate, either. These are different times than just six years ago, when I last ran, or even longer than that.”
And no, he said again for the umpteenth time, he will not be Mitt Romney’s running mate this year.
“I’m not going to do it,” he said. “I’m not going to be asked. And it’s not going to happen. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a voice. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to enthusiastically support Mitt Romney. I intend to do that, I’m doing it…
“He’s got a great list of candidates that I’m sure he’s thinking about.”
