Marco Rubio the Republican Senator from Florida is the most focused of any possible candidate for the 2016 presidential nomination on national security. On Friday, he told a group of conservative activists that the current administration’s Obama-Clinton policy on foreign affairs means the U.S. allies do not trust the country anyone and that our enemies are no longer in fear of us.
At 43, the Cuban-American is the youngest in all of the potential candidates appearing at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference. When he was asked what came to mind when he heard the words Hillary Clinton, the Florida senator answered, “Yesterday,” When asked what Barack Obama meant to him, he replied, “Failed.”
Rubio has advocated using a ground war to attack the Islamic State with the coalition of Middle East countries with the help of special operation forces of the U.S. and air support from the U.S.
Rubio said the Islamic State could be defeated militarily but President Obama did not want to upset Iran.
Rubio did draw criticism from members of his own party on immigration. He advocated reform that would give the immigrants a path to citizenship. However, he has changed his stance since.
Rubio called the U.S. exceptional. He said the world knows the U.S. is exceptional. He added to that thought by saying, “When did you ever hear of a boat full of refugees from the U.S. arriving to another country’s shores?”
Rubio said the U.S. was headed toward decline, but was only one election from triggering another great century for America.
He says he still had not made a decision whether or not to run for his party’s nomination. He however did mention a list of issues on the minds of the audience at the CPAC: he is opposed to abortion rights, marijuana legalization and same-sex marriage.
Activists at the CPAC praised Rubio’s speech but were not yet ready to give him their endorsement and some wondered if he would even run.