Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) panned President Obama’s State of the Union speech during the weekly Republican address, saying the president largely ignored his own record because he has made the economy worse during three years in office.
“It was an opportunity for the president to talk about his accomplishments over the last three years and to lay out his plans for the year ahead. And he missed on both counts,” Rubio said. “You didn’t hear much talk about the success of his administration—and that’s because there isn’t much.”
The Florida Republican, considered one of the GOP’s brightest rising stars, said that while Obama inherited a high national debt and a troubled economy when he took office, he had exacerbated both crises.
“This president didn’t talk about his record for one simple reason; he doesn’t want you to know about it. But you do know about it, because you feel the failure of his leadership every single day of your life,” Rubio said.
“The bottom line is this president inherited a country with serious problems. He asked the Congress to give him the stimulus and Obamacare to fix it. The Democrats in Congress gave it to him. And not only did it not work, it made everything worse.”
Rubio was chosen to deliver the Republican address days before his home state’s crucial presidential primary. He has not endorsed a candidate, but he has criticized attacks by Newt Gingrich on Mitt Romney in recent days. He is seen as a top contender for the vice presidential nomination even though he has said repeatedly he would not be on the ticket.
Rubio offered a message that Republicans are likely to repeat throughout the year. He criticized Obama’s record and accused the president of using “divisive rhetoric” in calling for higher taxes on the wealthy.
“For the first time in my adult life, we have a president who’s asking us to abandon our economic heritage,” Rubio said.
