Big Shock: JEB! is a big fan of NSA surveillance of Americans

(CNN) - If there's one thing Jeb Bush likes about President Barack Obama's presidency, it's the continuation of the NSA's controversial spying program.

Bush, the former Florida governor likely to jump into the 2016 GOP presidential race, on Tuesday called the NSA's bulk collection of phone and internet metadata --the "best part" of the Obama administration.

"I would say the best part of the Obama administration would be his continuance of the protections of the homeland using, you know, the big metadata programs, the NSA being enhanced," Bush said on the Michael Medved radio show on Tuesday. "Even though he never defends it, even though he never openly admits it, there has been a continuation of a very important service, which is the first obligation I think of our national government is to keep us safe."

The program has come under heavy scrutiny after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified information about the NSA's domestic spying programs, including the agency's collection of phone call, email and internet data on tens of millions of Americans. Read more.