On his first extended trip to South Carolina this year, Jeb Bush on Tuesday blasted President Barack Obama as a failed leader and pitched himself as a principled conservative who gets things done.

“It’s the president’s responsibility to reweave the web of civility and to improve the discourse, and this guy does not believe it’s his priority or his mission to do that,” Bush said.

The former Florida governor has yet to formally declare his intention to run for president in 2016, but winked at the idea during his speech to a chamber of commerce breakfast, telling the crowd “you’ll be seeing a lot of me.”

Bush said he would be more personally engaged than Obama with world leaders and members of Congress. Those “personal relationships,” he said, pave the way for better governing outcomes.

He happily noted that he’s been out of public office since 2007, meaning he’s untainted by any of the bitter fights that have dominated American politics since Obama took office in 2009.

Bush is spending two days this week in South Carolina, which hosts the South’s first presidential primary next February, a few weeks after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

The South Carolina primary could draw more than 600,000 voters, far exceeding turnout in Iowa and New Hampshire. Bush said South Carolina would play a huge role as “the first big primary state.”

Bush’s pitch Tuesday began with a biography, from his immediate family life to his experience in the private sector and public office. He credited his wife, Columba, with “bringing order to my life.” Being “George’s boy, Barbara’s boy” means he “won the lottery.”

His wide-range of business ventures, he said, means, “I’ve signed the front-side of a paycheck. … Washington has lost its way in this regard. I’m proud that I’ve been in business and know how it works.”

Eight years as Florida’s chief executive gave him practical experience in a state that “looks like America,” he said.

“It’s not completely red, not completely blue,” Bush said, but “as purple as can be.”

As he has in past trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, Bush defended his positions on the Common Core education standards and immigration that put him at odds with many conservative voters.

Bush said Congress should spell out that the federal government not influence curriculum or standards “directly or indirectly,” a nod to the Obama administration considering whether a state has adopted the Common Core standards when it awards lucrative federal grants.

He also repeated his belief that millions of people living in the country illegally should have a path to legal status.

“Look, I’m pretty convinced that my views on this are the right views for sustained economic growth,” Bush said. “If there’s a better idea, I’d like to hear it. But doing nothing? That’s not a plan.”

One of Bush’s expected top rivals for the nomination, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, will be in South Carolina on Thursday and Friday.

Both Bush and Walker have public and private events this week that will take them to the upstate area around Greenville and Spartanburg, the capital city of Columbia and the coastal towns of Myrtle Beach and Charleston.

(AP)