Jeb Bush offers 'hope' as key 2016 message in San Francisco fundraising stop

Sketching the broad outlines of a presidential campaign that is undeclared but well under way, Jeb Bush mixed familiar calls for lower taxes and less regulation with a message to fellow Republicans to stay upbeat and offer hope as their central message in 2016.

"Just a lot of reasons to be angry or grumpy and negative and then react to the overreach," the former Florida governor told a gathering of the nation's car dealers on Friday after delivering a long and scathing assessment of US President Barack Obama's time in office, domestically and on the world stage.

But, he went on: "We're not going to win votes as Republicans unless we can lay out a hopeful, optimistic message that's based in reality, that's grounded in a set of policies that are real, that people believe can actually happen. Hope and a positive agenda wins out over anger and reaction every day of the week."

Bush's appearance in San Francisco before an audience of several thousand was his first campaign-style stop since announcing last month via social media that he was actively exploring a run for the office held by his father and his older brother.

Seeming relaxed in the friendly setting of a strongly pro-business crowd, Bush spent half an hour offering his vision of a country renewed by a lighter governing hand in Washington, a dramatic overhaul of the education system and a more muscular foreign policy.

He was unsparing in his criticism of Obama, suggesting at one point the president's desire to pull back from military engagement abroad had resulted in the renewed rise of terrorism and the threat of another September 11-style attack on the United States.