It is possible for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to escape his family's shadow, but he needs to do it by highlighting his own accomplishments, conservative commentator Michael Reagan tells
Newsmax TV.
"I know how tough it is to get out of a shadow," Reagan told J.D. Hayworth and Miranda Khan on "America's Forum" on Friday, explaining that it's something he's struggled with, living under the "shadow" of his father, former President Ronald Reagan.
"Nobody knows about my history of what I've done because [I'm] so overshadowed by an iconic family," he said.
"[Bush is] also overshadowed in many ways."
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Bush sought to distance himself from his brother, former President George W. Bush, and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, during a
speech Wednesday at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, when he said that he admires them both for "their service to the nation and the difficult decisions they had to make. But I am my own man."
Reagan said that he "wouldn’t' have given that speech in that way or said something of that nature.
"It's going to be very tough for him to" get out of his family's shadow, he said.
"If you want to get away from the shadow, you need to walk away from it and talk about what you've accomplished ... because he's accomplished a heck of a lot as governor of Florida," Reagan said.
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