Marco Rubio, Republican Senator from Florida, appears to be the GOP answer to Barack Obama.
During a discussion on Rubio, who offered the official Republican rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening and is being hailed by many as the future of the GOP, Joe Scarborough didn’t question Rubio’s nose for politics. However, Rubio—who served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives for two years— isn’t ready to be president, Scarborough said.
“I’m going to get in trouble for saying this; I should just keep my mouth shut, but I’m going to say it anyway. I just am. You’ve just gotta say the truth. Marco Rubio is, in effect, the Republican Party’s answer to Barack Obama. A guy that’s great looking, a guy that’s articulate, a guy that could put together a lot of different groups that could help you win the presidency, and a guy who’s not ready to be POTUS,” he said.
Rubio, 41, is currently seeing his status within the GOP rise exponentially after the 2012 elections, and he used the GOP response to criticize Obama in saying “[m]ore government isn’t going to help you get ahead. It’s going to hold you back. “
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But Rubio’s somewhat awkward (or as some would say, human) moment of taking a swig of water mid-speech seems to have overshadowed his message, and the Morning Joe panel took notice of it.
Mika Brzezinski chimed in and said the GOP should give Rubio time to season.
“Marco’s not ready, and they’re throwing him out there because they’re saying ‘Oh, we did poorly with Hispanics, so let’s put Marco out there.’ He’s not ready yet,” Scarborough continued.
Scarborough added that Rubio could be ready in the future and shared his belief that President Obama was also not ready to be president.
“He still hasn’t really figured out how to work Washington like Clinton figured it out, like LBJ figured it out, like Reagan figured it out. He wasn’t ready,” Scarborough said.
Drew Katchen