Marco Rubio Bombs in SOTU Rebuttal/2016 Audition

Last updated on February 14th, 2013 at 03:26 pm

The problem with having to do the SOTU rebuttal is that you have to try to anticipate what will resonate in the president’s State of the Union. Marco Rubio and the GOP guessed wrong.

Sen. Rubio played up the whole, “look at me, I’m Hispanic” card, but beyond that he hit the Republican buzzwords about valuing life and free enterprise. Rubio immediately went off the rails by attacking Obama, and the Republicans completely guessed wrong by claiming that Obama’s solution was more taxes, more government, and more spending. In fact, Obama didn’t call for more government, but that didn’t stop the wrong track Republicans from putting poor Rubio out there to mouth the same old talking points. (Obamacare, check.)

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If this is Rubio’s big 2016 audition, the Republican Party is in big trouble. Rubio played to the global warming deniers, the far right, and the Obama haters.

The suspicions of many were confirmed tonight. Marco Rubio isn’t being touted because he is a potentially great candidate with unique ideas. Sen. Rubio is a Sarah Palinesque attempt at courting the Hispanic vote in 2016. Rubio even name dropped Solyndra. The only thing missing from his rebuttal was a mention of Rev. Wright.

The Republican Party put a different colored face on their same old ideas, and they think the American people are dumb enough to fall for it. It didn’t work in 2008, and it won’t work in 2016. President Obama laid out a sweeping vision for our country, and the Republicans replied with ideas as old as George W. Bush, and attacks that were frankly, played out in the fall of 2008.

Poor Marco was so nervous and over-matched that he had to stop for a water break on live national television. Sen. Marco Rubio is not ready for prime time.

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Any candidate who is saddled with the GOP’s terrible ideas is destined to fail.

If this is what the Republican Party has offer, Hillary Clinton should be measuring the drapes in the White House.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association