Jeb Bush Steps Away From His Brother's Shadow

February 18, 2015 2:35 PM EST

Former Gov. Jeb Bush provided an early preview Wednesday of how he will address the central challenge of his all-but-certain presidential campaign: defining himself outside the shadow of his family.

“I love my brother. I love my dad,” Bush told an audience of business leaders and politicos during a foreign-policy speech 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.”

It was no coincidence that Bush picked a foreign-policy address to start the process of sketching the differences between his approach and those of the two Bush presidencies past. If he chooses to run, the former Florida governor will be saddled with the legacy of his brother, whose presidency was marred by two unpopular wars that sullied the family name.

Bush took tentative steps toward distinguishing his own views. “There were mistakes made in Iraq,” Bush acknowledged during a question-and-answer session, saying George W. Bush’s administration should have focused on ensuring security after the fall of Saddam Hussein. But he credited his brother’s decision to launch the 2007 troop surge that stabilized the war-torn nation, and said it had descended back into chaos because of President Obama’s decision to withdraw forces after his brother left office.

Ranging onto Obama’s home turf, Bush denounced the President for diminishing the nation’s stature on the world stage. Calling for a more assertive foreign policy that he dubbed “liberty democracy,” Bush skewered Obama’s approach as too passive toward America’s enemies and too murky for U.S. allies to rely upon. “The great irony of the Obama Presidency is this: Someone who came to office promising greater engagement with the world has left America less influential in the world,” Bush said.

“America does not have the luxury of withdrawing from the world,” Bush said. “Our security, our prosperity and our values demand that we remain engaged and involved in often distant places. We have no reason to apologize for our leadership and our interest in serving the cause of global security, global peace and human freedom.”

Bush criticized Obama for his handling of his “red line” with regards to Syria’s use of chemical weapons and his early dismissal of the Islamic State. He also whacked the President for failing to combat the threats posed by Russia’s escalations in eastern Ukraine, Boko Haram’s insurgency in Nigeria, and the personal distrust between the President and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“This administration talks, but the words fade. They draw red lines, then erase them,” Bush said. “With grandiosity, they announce resets and disengage. Hashtag campaigns replace actual diplomacy and engagement. Personal diplomacy and maturity is replaced by leaks and personal disparagement. The examples keep piling up. ”

But blistering Obama was the easy part of the speech. For Bush, the hard part will be drawing distinctions between his approach and that of his brother—particularly in light of the fulsome praise he has heaped on George W. Bush’s foreign policy in the past. “I’m the only Republican that was in office when he was in office as President that never disagreed with him and I’m not going to start now,” Jeb told CNN in a rare 2010 joint interview with his brother, who is seven years his senior. “I’m not going to start now. It’s just till death do us part.”

Photos: Meet America's Top 10 Political Families

Bush Family Portrait — The Bush family dynasty begins with Prescott S. Bush, who represented Connecticut in the Senate from 1952 to 1963. His son George H. W. Bush served as Vice President, Director of the CIA, and President from 1989 to 1993. His son George W. Bush was governor of Texas and, from 2001 to 2009, President of the United States. George W's brother Jeb served as governor of Florida and is thought to be a possible contender for the White House in 2016. Getty Images

George Bush On Family Vacation — Then Vice President George H. W. Bush sits with his sons George W. and Jeb while vacationing in Kennebunkport, Maine, in August 1983. Cynthia Johnson—Getty Images

Politics Personalities. USA. pic: May 1963. Washington D.C. President John F. Kennedy, right with his brother the Attorney General Robert Kennedy. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) became the 35th President of the United States serving 1961-1963. — Joseph P. Kennedy was a multi-millionaire, U.S. ambassador to Britain and the patriarch of a political dynasty that included his sons pictured above, Robert Kennedy (left), U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Senator and candidate for President assassinated while campaigning in 1968, and John F. Kennedy (right), President of the U.S. from 1961 until he was assassinated in office in 1963.Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Kennedy Family — Pictured here on Easter Sunday 1963: John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy with their two children, John Jr. (left), who would become a publisher and die in a plane crash in 1999, and Caroline (right), an attorney, writer, and U.S. Ambassador to Japan. The Kennedy clan also includes Ted Kennedy, who served in the U.S. Senate until his death in 2009, Robert Kennedy Jr., a prominent environmental activist, Joseph P. Kennedy III, who was elected to Congress in 2012, and many other prominent Americans.MPI/Getty Images

USA - 2008 Elections - Senator Clinton and Husband Bill Clinton — The Clintons started their political dynasty in Arkansas in 1976, when Bill was elected Attorney General. He went on to win the governors seat and, in 1992, the Presidency. After leaving the White House, Hillary served as a Senator from New York and Secretary of State. She's widely expected to make her own White House bid in 2016. Brooks Kraft—Corbis

Chelsea Clinton Marries Marc Mezvinsky In Rhinebeck, New York — Born in 1980, Bill and Hillary's daughter Chelsea is married to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, the son of two former members of Congress. On September 27, 2014, they added another member to the Clinton dynasty: their daughter, Charlotte Clinton MezvinskyFilmMagic/Getty Images

Rand Paul, Ron Paul — As a libertarian-minded Republican in congress for decades, Rep. Ron Paul (right) became the defacto leader of the libertarian movement in the U.S. His son Rand Paul (left) is now trying to take on that mantle as a Senator from Kentucky and likely presidential hopeful. Ed Reinke—AP

Senate Republicans Hold News Conference On Debt Ceiling — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul talks to his father Rep. Ron Paul during a news conference June 22, 2011 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Alex Wong—Getty Images

Dick Cheney (right) has served as a congressman, White House aide, Secretary of Defense and unusually powerful Vice President, but he's not the only political force in the family. His daughter Liz Cheney (left) is a conservative commentator and activist who ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2014. AP (2)

Dick Cheney Poses For A Family Photo — Cheney's daughters Liz (left) and Mary (right), pictured here at home in Wyoming in 1978, had a highly public row later in life, when Mary, who is gay, called out Liz for refusing to support same-sex marriage.David Hume Kennerly—Getty Images

US - 2012 Elections - Romney Town Square Rally — Both George Romney and his son Mitt rose to national political prominence but neither held the top job. The elder Romney, who served as Governor of Michigan, ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 1968. Mitt Romney served as Governor of Massachusetts and secured the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. He was defeated in the general election. Getty Images; Corbis

George W Romney — George Romney announced his intention to run for governor of Michigan, with his son Mitt and his wife Lenore by his side, on February 10, 1962. RDA/Getty Images

Women's Health — Descended from Mormon pioneers, the Udall family have held high political positions from states across the American West. To cite one of many examples, Stewart Udall served as Secretary of the Department of Interior under President Lyndon Johnson. Today, his son Tom Udall (right) represents New Mexico in the U.S. Senate, and his nephew Mark Udall (left) represents Colorado in the same body.CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images (2)

Stewart Udall family — The large Udall clan also includes local officials, congressmen and state legislators. AP

President Taft — The Taft family includes prominent Americans extending back to the colonial era. William Howard Taft (left) was President from 1909 to 1913 and later appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His son Robert A. Taft (right) wielded extraordinary power and influence as a member of the U.S. Senate, where he served until his death in 1953. Getty Images (2)

Theodore Roosevelt first become president after the assassination of President McKinley in 1901 and served until 1909. Franklin Roosevelt was a great admirer of his fifth cousin Theodore, and became President himself, serving from 1933 to 1945, the longest consecutive administration in America’s history. Getty Images (2)

America’s original political dynasty, the Adams family had a hand in some of the most consequential events in the country’s history. John Adams was a member of the Continental Congress, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, and served as America’s first President from 1797 to 1801. John Quincy Adams became the first son of a President to become President, serving from 1825 to 1829. National Archives/Getty Images (2)

As he moves toward a presidential campaign, Bush is soliciting foreign-policy advice from a broad range of conservative thinkers, including many who advised the 43rd or 41st presidents and some who helped orchestrate his brother’s ill-fated endeavors in the war on terrorism. They include former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, former Secretary of State George Schultz, and former Deputy National Security Advisor Meghan O’Sullivan.

In a rare venture into policy specifics, Bush explicitly defended the National Security Agency’s telephone metadata program, which was exposed by leaks from Edward Snowden. “For the life of me I don’t understand the debate,” he said, calling the controversial program “hugely important.” The position pits himself against likely 2016 GOP primary opponent Rand Paul, a Kentucky Senator who has made the purported excesses of the U.S. surveillance state a cornerstone of his campaign and a rallying cry designed to attract independents and young voters.

In a question-and-answer session that followed his speech, Bush called for Obama to confront Russian leader Vladimir Putin—whom he described as a “ruthless pragmatist—and criticized Obama’s rapprochement with Cuba. “I think it was the wrong thing to do,” he said. Bush indicated that Obama should have allowed Cuba to feel the economic squeeze from falling oil prices, adding that he does not believe that Cuba’s dictatorship will make a transition to democratic government. “I don’t think it happens,” he added, “unless you negotiate the conditions for it to happen.”

As a governor, Bush lacks the day-to-day familiarity with foreign policy issues that some potential Senate rivals boast. But he sought to highlight his foreign policy bona fides by reciting his experience abroad, including trade missions conducted while he was governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007 and four annual trips to Asia in recent years.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found that Bush’s name could be a drag among some Independent voters in the swing states of Colorado, Iowa, and Virginia, but most say it will not alter their decisionmaking should he face former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A CNN survey found that 64% of Americans associate Bush with the past, compared to 33% who say he represents the future. For Clinton, 50% associated her with the future, compared to 48% with the past.

Before Bush spoke, Democrats launched a preemptive attack that derided the former Florida governor for blaming the current Oval Office occupant for problems created by his predecessor. “The Jeb Doctrine seems to be to point fingers at the wrong Administration, cheerlead go-it-alone diplomacy, and put on blinders to the failures of the past,” said Mo Elleithee, communications director for the Democratic National Committee.