“I love my father and my brother. I admire their service to the nation and the difficult decisions they had to make. “But I am my own man.”

Jeb Bush made this declaration yesterday in a major speech in Chicago. Bush’s speech was curious. He claimed he is his own man then spent the rest of the event rattling off one GOP talking point after another about the current President’s policies abroad. His attacks on the Obama Administration’s direction in foreign affairs was so biting and seemingly bitter it is difficult to not think Bush is trying to rehabilitate his brother’s tarnished legacy.

Some examples:

“Weakness invites war,”

The two longest wars in American history were both started by Bush’s brother in an attempt to show strength and continued on through several strategic shifts because of a lack of understanding of diplomacy.

“I have doubts whether this administration believes American power is such a force,” Bush said. “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.”

I actually do not disagree with the inconsistent and indecisive part – President Obama’s foreign policy has been very inconsistent. What I do have a problem with is Bush claiming we have lost the confidence of our friends (this is simply not true when compared to Bush’s brother who was hated by our European allies) and we no longer inspire fear in our enemies –  that fear dissipated because of the obvious WEAKNESS of the ability of the United States to impose its will militarily during the George W. Bush years.

“The notion that somehow you’re going to have freedom break out in Cuba, I think is false”

Freedom is a relative term. However, engagement brought freedom in Eastern Europe and more free ideas to China. Blocking off Cuba is part of what has made it so repressive.

Following these incredible statements, Jeb Bush proceeded to name a foreign policy team of advisers that looks suspiciously like a hybrid between his father and brother’s most hawkish associates. The more measured Colin Powell/Richard Armitage wing of the Bush Administrations has been rejected in favor of the likes of Paul Wolfowitz and Stephen Hadley. Absent also is Condoleezza Rice who had an influence on moderating George W. Bush’s policies during his final two years in office and preventing potential conflicts in Syria and Iran that may have involved US troops.

While Bush avoided the outright crazy comments made by Marco Rubio repeatedly about foreign policy, he clearly demonstrated that he is no moderate traditional Republican when it comes to these issues.