As he nears the starting gate for 2016, former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., is starting to turn his focus more to foreign policy, taking shots at President Barack Obamas handling of international events.
After a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs last week, Bush has increasingly turned to international issues as he readies for 2016. Right to Rise, a PAC affiliated with Bush, released a Web video on Sunday attacking Obamas foreign policy.
The video features a series of news clips focusing on current international crises before turning to Bush making the case for strong American leadership on the global stage.
Bush has also thrown other jabs against Obama on foreign affairs.
I have doubts whether this administration believes American power is such a force, Bush insisted on Thursday. Under this administration, we are inconsistent and indecisive. We have lost the trust and the confidence of our friends. We definitely no longer inspire fear in our enemies.
Bush also hammered the White House for its response to U.S. House Speaker John Boehners, R-Ohio, invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before Congress in early March.
Very disappointed the White House would try to undermine Benjamin Netanyahus speech, Bush noted on Friday. This is no way to treat our strongest ally in the Middle East.
But Democrats returned fire on Bush, trying to link him to his brother's handling of foreign policay, former President George W. Bush.
Today, Jeb Bush made his first foray into explaining and attempting to recast his foreign policy, said Holly Shulman, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), after Bushs speech in Chicago. But despite Jeb Bushs claim that he will be his own man, there is little evidence that Jeb Bushs foreign policy agenda is much different than his brothers, and in the ways it is different, it may be even worse.
We know that if Jeb Bush were in charge, our brave men and women would be stationed in Iraq indefinitely, Shulman added. We know that Jeb Bush is leaning on more than a dozen foreign-policy advisers who were the architects of George W. Bushs cowboy foreign policy agenda that damaged the countrys reputation abroad. Embracing decisions that made the world more dangerous, and then trying to shift the blame thats the Jeb Bush doctrine.
Foreign policy was one of the hallmarks of George H.W. Bushs political career. After stints as ambassador to the United Nations and to China and leading the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), he made his international experience one of the cornerstones of his presidential bids in 1980 and 1988. During his presidency, the first President Bush won applause for leading an international coalition to repel the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, managing the unification of Germany and handling the demise of the Soviet bloc. But, despite showcasing those successes in 1992, Bush was defeated for a second term.
In 2000, George W. Bush called for a humbler foreign policy but after the 9/11 attacks, showed no hesitation in launching military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the War on Terror. Early successes helped Republicans to big congressional wins in 2002 and 2004 and helped the second President Bush claim a second term. But increased frustrations in Iraq led to Democrats retaking Congress in 2006 and the election of Obama, a fierce critic of Bushs foreign policy, who won the White House in 2008.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
