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04/28/2024 08:43:03 pm

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Republican Frontrunner Jeb Bush on Foreign Policy: 'I Am My Own Man'

Jeb Bush

(Photo : REUTERS/Jim Young) Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush laughs during an event with The Chicago Council on Global Affairs in Chicago, Illinois, in this photo taken February 18, 2015.

Early Republican frontrunner Jeb Bush on Wednesday sought to allay worries over his views on foreign policy that might follow the legacies of his father George H.W. Bush and brother George W. Bush, stressing, "I am my own man."

The former Florida governor appears to be bent on steering clear of debates over the foreign policy of both past presidents.

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In speech excerpts made public by Bush's political organization, he did acknowledge that he had been lucky to have an older brother and father who have made U.S. foreign policy and that he recognized his views will often be compared to theirs - at times in contrast to theirs.

He has come up with a list of advisers on foreign policy as he tries to balance pragmatists with party hawks. Many are from the last three Republican administrations, including those of his brother, father and Ronald Reagan.

It includes people of varying ideological views including James Baker, a known pragmatist in the presidencies of Reagan and George H.W. Bush and Paul Wolfowitz, a hawk who served as deputy defense secretary and architect of George W. Bush's policy on Iraq.

Also included in the list are two former CIA directors, Michael Hayden and Porter Goss; a former deputy national security adviser, Meghan O'Sullivan; former national security adviser Stephen Hadley; and two former Homeland Security secretaries, Michael Chertoff and Tom Ridge.

Bush delivered the speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, where he talked about changes in world circumstances that await the next president. Bush also sought to differentiate his foreign policy from that of President Barack Obama, a Democrat whose leadership Bush said has failed.

He said the U.S. had been indecisive and inconsistent under Obama's leadership, adding America no longer inspired fear in her enemies.

It was the former Florida governor's first major invitation to speak on foreign policy since he eyed the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. 

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