The political news of the day came from Jeb Bush, who delivered a foreign policy address with a sound-bite-ready quote in which he declared that as terrific as his father and brother are, "I am my own man." He didn't actually explain any differences between what they did and what he'd do, but in my Plum Line post today, I wondered how we might get a better idea of what sort of president he'd be:
The real question, however, is less whether Jeb Bush can be his own man in relation to his brother and father-who, after all, conducted foreign policy in extremely different ways-but whether he can be his own man in relation to the rest of the Republican Party. As we come to the end of eight years in which hatred of Barack Obama has come to define every position the Republican Party takes, will there be any room for a Republican presidential candidate to have an original thought on foreign policy?
It's early yet, so we haven't heard all that much from the Republican candidates on foreign policy. What we have heard, however, isn't particularly encouraging. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is so far the only one who has managed to say anything on any foreign policy topic that doesn't amount to, "Obama bad! Must be strong!" (For instance, Paul opposed applying new sanctions to Iran while negotiations on its nuclear program are ongoing). Today, Bush will say that "weakness invites war…and strength encourages peace," which tells us very little about how he'd conduct himself as president. Here are a few questions we might ask him-and the other candidates-to learn what they actually believe:
You'll have to read the rest to find out what the questions actually are.
