Stumping for the Democratic ticket in Florida on Thursday, President Obama took the opportunity to slam Republican Sen. Marco Rubio for his support of Donald Trump, the celebrity candidate whom the Republican had once famously branded “a dangerous con artist.”
The president interpreted the Florida senator’s flip-flop as a “sign of someone who will say anything, do anything, and pretend to be anybody to get elected.” But in the muggy heat, Obama might have forgotten who he’s stumping for in the Sunshine State.
Rubio’s Senate challenger, Rep. Patrick Murphy, embellished his academic record, overstated his professional credentials and hugely exaggerated his business experience. A rising star in the Democratic Party, Murphy won election to the House of Representatives in 2013 on the strength of his resume. The 33-year-old Florida man campaigned on his experience as a certified public accountant and literally on his ability to count.
Hawking those credentials, the Democrat told Florida voters that as a CPA he spent “several years” digging through the books of “Fortune 500 companies looking for inefficiencies, waste, and fraud.” In reality, his CV wasn’t nearly as impressive.
Murphy worked as an “audit assistant” and an “audit senior” at the accounting firm Deloitte and Touche for two years before traveling to Colorado — where academic requirements are more lax — to earn his CPA license in 2009.
According to Politico, he put that license to use for just nine months — hardly enough time to develop the high-level experience he showed off for voters.
It’s difficult to dismiss that significant exaggeration as a simple miscalculation. It becomes almost impossible in light of two other episodes where Murphy misled the public.
Branding himself as a sort of environmentally conscious entrepreneur, Murphy started a disaster relief company after the 2010 BP oil spill. On his campaign website, he claimed that he spent “six months in the Gulf of Mexico leading cleanup efforts.” The Tampa Bay Times reported that his campaign’s own timeline contradicted that claim.
Murphy also boasted that he earned dual bachelor’s degrees in Accounting and Finance from the University of Miami. The Miami Herald reported that he only held one degree, in business administration.
Obvious evidence of Murphy pretending to be someone he’s not hasn’t hurt him within the DNC though. Both Obama and Vice President Biden wholeheartedly endorse him. Contrast that with Rubio, who was at least forthcoming about Trump’s shortcomings and offered, at best, tepid support when push came to shove.
The Rubio 180 on the Republican nominee has more to do his opposition to the Democrat alternative and a duty to support his own party’s nominee. He hasn’t even walked back his criticism of Trump. And even if he were pretending, he wouldn’t be the only one.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
