Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor and failed presidential candidate, became the latest to pile on Jeb Bush’s widely panned debate performance.
In multiple interviews Thursday, Pawlenty said Bush needs to do something “dramatic” to his campaign to show he’s a viable candidate going forward. He also added that Bush’s back-and-forth with Sen. Marco Rubio “crystalized the concern” for the former GOP front-runner.
“The unfortunate part of the Bush campaign so far has been these expectations that they’re just about to turn the corner or make a comeback or fix the problem, and it’s like political ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ It’s always one more thing.” Pawlenty told MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts.
Pawlenty went on to say the Rubio appeals to a broad cross-section of the party. But he doubted Bush was “seeking the permission to quit” the race.
“No, I don’t think that,” Pawlenty said. “I think he’s a competition person to the ultimate degree, by all accounts. He still has a lot of money in the bank. He’s going to have to slow down his burn rate.”
“Frankly, he’s probably going to have to do something dramatic to his campaign to show that there’s a restart, a new person — a la what John McCain did in 2008, or some version of that,” he continued. “But clearly he’s struggling, and if he’s on his current trajectory, it’s not going to get him to the finish line. He’s going to have to up his game or find another gear.”
Earlier, Pawlenty told CNN that Bush has struggled to be “inspiring” thus far in the campaign, pointing to that being a part of leadership as a whole.
“Let’s face it — part of leadership is to inspire, and in this media news/political world, you gotta be inspiring,” Pawlenty told CNN’s John Berman and Kate Bolduan. “So he’s going to have to up his game because the debate last night and even before, the response has been, ‘that wasn’t sufficiently inspiring,’ and that’s part of leadership.”
Pawlenty was the first GOP candidate in the 2012 primary to fold up shop just after the Iowa straw poll and a poor debate performance, during which he refused to repeat his criticism of Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare law as “Obamneycare.”
