Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida talked about Iran and Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled speech to Congress and said his foreign policy positions were his own, not his family’s.
CHICAGO — Jeb Bush pointedly sought to distance himself from his brother’s presidency on Wednesday, declaring himself “my own man” and acknowledging that “there were mistakes made in Iraq” even as he used his first major foreign affairs speech to call for an assertive American presence that recalled President George W. Bush’s approach to international relations.
It was no coincidence that Mr. Bush, a former Florida governor who polls suggest faces challenges with Republicans and voters in general because of his name, made his first intentional break with the last Republican president in remarks on foreign policy, the area that sent his brother’s presidency spiraling.
He noted that his father, the 41st president, and his eldest brother had both “shaped America’s foreign policy from the Oval Office,” and reaffirmed his love for them.
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The host names on his high-dollar fund-raising invitations include donors who have supported his family for decades, many of whom were made ambassadors.
And the foreign policy hands he has relied on so far include many associated with his family, like Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz and James A. Baker III.
All high-profile presidential candidates seek out donors and advisers to the most recent presidents of their party. But the list of Mr. Bush’s supporters does underscore that he is so potentially formidable in part because of the connections on which he says he does not want to be judged.
A version of this article appears in print on February 19, 2015, on page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘I Am My Own Man,’ Bush Says in Chicago Foreign Affairs Speech. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
