Jeb Bush needs to sharpen his foreign policy message

The Post reports:

Presumed Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush intensified his attacks on President Obama’s leadership on Tuesday, using his first campaign-style stop in South Carolina to deliver one of his sharpest critiques yet of the current White House occupant.

Appearing at a local chamber of commerce breakfast meeting, Bush used a series of questions on specific policy issues to level broad attacks against Obama — one of the safest ways to endear himself to Republicans here in this deep-red state where the president is deeply unpopular.

Bush is right to start drawing some clear distinctions and bright lines. The Democrats — who would filibuster an anti-slavery, anti-human-trafficking bill over abortion language that has been in the bill from the start, who would sit meekly by while the president capitulates to Iran, who would refuse to pass pipeline legislation that is popular — are very good at drawing lines. While it may be wise to champion legislation that has broad appeal, Republicans must show voters they will be as tough as the Democrats and have a clear view of what they want to accomplish. It is good to show some fire in the belly (“He’ll say something like, that ‘If you don’t believe in my sophisticated nuanced policy’ – which I would call a policy of retrenchment, then he pushes down the other side,” Bush said of Obama) but more important is to show what he is fired up about.

Despite repeated attempts, his staff will not say if Bush would abide by the terms of an Iran deal not ratified by Congress that gave Iran a pathway to the bomb. This is not a hard question, so why have we not gotten a straight answer? Would he break the defense sequester caps? He has not said, and his campaign has declined to comment on the House defense budget released today. On any campaign, there will be advisers who say “Don’t box yourself in” or “Keep it general.” But now is no time for equivocation and playing it safe, especially on foreign policy. Campaign aides marinated in State Department-speak are experts at using many words to say very little, and, frankly, no one is more expert than Hillary Clinton.

Republicans, however, have a right to wonder why a candidate is being fuzzy and whether he will have the nerve to stick to his guns in office. The Republicans have a perfect standard to aspire to — Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who is informed, outspoken and concrete. Among the GOP field, we have seen this from former Texas governor Rick Perry on everything from Iran to the Islamic State to Ukraine. Despite his newness to the national stage, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been increasingly outspoken on foreign policy issues; no one doubts what he would do about a United Nations-approved deal that bypassed the Senate and risked U.S. and Israeli security. For a frontrunner such as Bush, the temptation is to play it safe, play not to lose and keep definitive statements to a minimum. That is a mistake as a strategic matter, and it overlooks the role GOP hopefuls can have on congressional votes and in shaping the current debate.

In short, fiery is good for Bush, but it is not enough. He must take firm stands or risk the party looking for leadership elsewhere.