Jeb Bush will slam President Barack Obama for an “inconsistent and indecisive” foreign policy on Wednesday in his second speech in as many weeks aimed at introducing himself to voters as he considers a potential run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
At the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the former Florida governor will say he questions whether the administration believes that the U.S. can be a force for good in the world and will outline policies he says will help the U.S. “regain its leadership in the world.”
“Under this administration, we are inconsistent and indecisive,” Bush will say, according to prepared remarks released by his political action committee, Right to Rise. “We have lost the trust and the confidence of our friends. We definitely no longer inspire fear in our enemies.”
But Bush will also seek to distance himself from his father, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, whose handling of the war in Iraq remains deeply unpopular with many voters.
“I love my father and my brother. I admire their service to the nation and the difficult decisions they had to make,” he says in prepared remarks. “But I am my own man – and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences.”
Bush will say also that “each president learns from those who came before” and that every president “inherits a changing world… and changing circumstances.”
He will criticize the administration for not matching its words with action, singling out Obama for invoking a “red line” against Syrian leader Assad, but failing to carry through.
“They draw red lines … then erase them,” he will say. And he will raise the Russian “reset” -- a policy championed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom he could potentially face in a presidential matchup.
“With grandiosity, they announce resets and disengage,” Bush will say. “Hashtag campaigns replace actual diplomacy and engagement. Personal diplomacy and maturity is replaced by leaks and personal disparagement.”
He will also say that the president “needs to be backed by the greatest military power in the world” and will call on Obama to “call on leaders of both parties to fix the budget and address the shortfalls in our defense spending.
“He should show leadership – and commitment to solving the problem,” Bush will say, adding that a powerful military “also makes it less likely that we will need to put our men and women in uniform in harm’s way.
“Because I believe, fundamentally, that weakness invites war… and strength encourages peace,” he will say.
While Bush seeks to make his own claim on foreign policy, his sounding board of advisers include veterans of his father and brother’s administrations.
The foreign policy experts who his campaign say have committed to support Bush and whom he is consulting as he considers a run for the presidency include:
Former Secretary of State James Baker, who also served as Secretary of the Treasury and Chief of Staff to President Reagan and President George H.W. Bush; former George W. Bush administration Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami; former George W. Bush administration Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky; former George W. Bush administration CIA director Porter Goss, a former Florida congressman; Stephen Hadley, former President George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor; John Hannah, who served for eight years on Vice President Dick Cheney’s staff, including as his national security advisor; former George W. Bush administration CIA director Michael Hayden; Kenneth Juster, who served in senior positions in the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Commerce; former Bush administration Attorney General Michael Mukasey; Robert Natter, former Commander of the United States Atlantic Fleet/Fleet Forces; John Negroponte, the first Director of National Intelligence and a former ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, The Philippines and Iraq; Roger Noriega, former Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere; Meghan O’Sullivan, a former Deputy National Security Adviser; Pierre Prosper, the second U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes; Otto Reich, the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela under former President Ronald Reagan; former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge; former Secretary of State George Schultz; Kristen Silverberg, an Assistant Secretary of State and as a special assistant to the White House Chief of Staff; Paul Wolfowitz, the former World Bank president and Deputy Secretary of Defense; and Robert Zoellick, former World Bank president, Deputy Secretary of State and U.S. Trade Representative.