Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush outlined his views on foreign policy in a speech Wednesday, one that was nominally different from his father’s and brother’s but in practice embodies the same hawkish stance that marked their presidential legacies.
“I love my father and my brother,” Bush said at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “But I am my own man—and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences.”
Substantively, his foreign policy platform could hardly be more similar to his brother’s. George W. Bush’s presidency was marked by aggressive interventionism across the globe, and Jeb Bush’s rhetoric promised more of the same, calling for military support for Ukraine, a tougher stance on Iran, and support for America’s allies against radical Islam.
“If we withdraw from the defense of liberty elsewhere, the battle eventually comes to us anyway,” Bush said. “The enemies of freedom will never be content in their own dark corner of the globe, they must eventually strike out at America.”
He deplored the current level of military funding, which had fallen to 2.5 percent of GDP, and called on President Obama to “address the shortfalls in our defense spending.” Bush also blasted the president for being too soft on negotiations with Iran over its nuclear energy program, and called on Congress to pass legislation that would trigger sanctions if no agreement is reached.
