Jeb Bush: GOP nominee in 2016 has to be 'uplifting'

Jeb Bush believes being "uplifting" and "positive" will be the key to a Republican winning the presidency in 2016.

In a speech before The Wall Street Journal CEO Council, the former Florida governor said he's still undecided about whether to run in 2016 and is mulling whether he has "the skills to do it in a way that tries to lift people's spirits and not get sucked into the vortex." Bush said a decision about a 2016 race will be made "in short order."

More from Bush's remarks Monday, according to the WSJ:

I don't know if I would be a good candidate or a bad one, but I kinda know how a Republican could win, whether it's me or somebody else, and it has to be much more uplifting, much more positive.

Bush, who is leading or near the top of several early public opinion polls on the GOP nomination, also gave a pretty robust description of his priorities and sounded like he was describing tenets that would be central to a presidential campaign.

Those priorities, the WSJ reported, include expanding the use of the nation's natural resources in an "all-in" energy policy, reducing regulations on business, simplifying the tax code, overhauling the nation's immigration laws so they are "economically driven," and transforming the nation's education system.

Bush has made long revamping immigration and education policy his top priorities. On education, Bush again voiced support for higher academic standards — whether it is Common Core or something else — and vowed he would end "politicized, unionized, government-run monopolies" of local school districts.