WASHINGTON — Sen. Marco Rubio called for a much more interventionist foreign policy in a speech Wednesday, declaring, "America plays a part on the world stage for which there is no understudy."

Laying out what amounts to a "Rubio doctrine," the Republican presidential contender asserted President Barack Obama had withdrawn from a position of strength on the global stage, and he ripped into the nuclear deal with Iran and America's diplomatic rapprochement with Cuba.

"The stakes of tomorrow are too high to look to the failed leadership of yesterday," Rubio said, digging at Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton, who was Obama's secretary of state.

Rubio is banking on foreign policy to play a larger role in the presidential race than recent elections when the economy was at the forefront. Polls show Americans are more in tune with the turmoil abroad.

Though Rubio has long been known as a hawk, his views have grown sharper in the past year. On Wednesday he criticized Obama for not intervening in Syria sooner. In 2013, when public sentiment was more on the side of noninterventionists, Rubio was more circumspect. He voted against a resolution authorizing Obama to use military force, arguing it was a "symbolic" show of force.

In his speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Rubio also put himself firmly on the right of the debate over the National Security Agency's data collection program, saying Congress should not modify provisions of the Patriot Act that have come under fire from both political parties.

Not long after, the House in a bipartisan vote moved to end the NSA's bulk collection of phone data.

Rubio's appearance also illustrated the resurgence of the Iraq war as a vexing issue on the presidential campaign trail.

This week, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is soon to enter the race, fumbled a question over whether it was a mistake to invade the country given the hindsight that intelligence was faulty.

Bush initially said no, drawing heat from Republicans and Democrats. On Tuesday he clarified that he misunderstood the question yet declined to answer it as intended, saying only that the United States should learn from its mistakes.

Wednesday, Rubio said he wouldn't have been in favor of the war if the evidence of weapons of mass destruction was known to be bad.

But in March, Rubio said the war was not a mistake, contending in a Fox News interview the world was better off without Saddam Hussein. The question Wednesday, from moderator Charlie Rose, was different in that it invoked the so-called WMDs, and Rubio's team argued he was not inconsistent.

His speech showed he intends to espouse the most forceful foreign policy approach of any of the top-tier Republican candidates, calling for more military spending and a tougher stance toward China, Russia and Iran.

"Nor should we hesitate in calling the source of atrocities in the Middle East by its real name — radical Islam," said Rubio, who is a member of the Senate's Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees and argues governors, such as Bush, will take longer to get up to speed on the issues.

Rubio's doctrine has three planks:

• "American strength." Rubio called for an end to the budget cuts, approved by Congress, known as sequestration that have also touched the military. "Some will argue that with all the fiscal challenges facing our nation, we simply cannot afford to invest in our military," Rubio said. "The truth is we cannot afford not to invest in it."

• "Protection of the American economy in a globalized world." Rubio called for Congress to authorize the president to go forward with trade agreements and "cement strategic partnerships in Asia, South America and Europe." He vowed as president to use "American power to oppose any violations of international waters, airspace, cyberspace, or outer space."

• "Moral clarity regarding America's core values." He said, "We must recognize that our nation is a global leader not just because it has superior arms, but because it has superior aims." Again criticizing the Obama administration, Rubio said he would maintain foreign assistance programs and advance the "rights of the vulnerable — including women and the religious minorities that are so often persecuted."

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who is also running for the GOP presidential nomination, criticized Rubio's stand on foreign aid in an interview with Politico.

"I would say if you ask most Republicans around the country, 'Do you think it's a good idea to borrow money from China to send it to Pakistan?' I think most Americans and most Republicans would say, 'That's a really bad idea.' "

Rubio reminded his audience that the first duty of the president is as commander in chief.

"Every presidential candidate must be prepared to execute this duty. And anyone who advocates averting our eyes from the dangers of the world must be prepared to explain, against six years of counterevidence, how retrenchment and retreat will lead to a safer world. Because they will not."

Democrats reacted to the speech by dubbing Rubio as a warmonger and throwback.

Contact Alex Leary at aleary@tampabay.com. Follow @learyreports.