Florida Sen. Marco Rubio criticized the president’s response to a mass shooting in San Bernardino last week, saying on Friday that Obama’s words and deeds have only “made things worse.”
“On Sunday night he gave a speech that was supposed to reassure the American people and I think it made things worse … He basically announced that these are the problems we have, but we ‘re not going to change anything,” Rubio told Fox News’ Griff Jenkins in a pre-taped interview.
The GOP presidential candidate, ranked third in the Washington Examiner’s power rankings, went on to detail his “multifaceted” plan for dismantling the Islamic State and other terrorist groups.
Rubio called for increases in military spending, strengthening intelligence programs, and creating an official military coalition in the Middle East that is focused on defeating the Islamic State.
The former Gang of Eight member also emphasized his new take on immigration. He wants to suspend the visa waiver program in countries where U.S. officials cannot verify the histories of people applying for documents, a shift from his 2013 position of increasing legal immigration numbers.
Rubio’s brother Mario joined him for the second part of the interview. Mario was born in Cuba and is significantly older than his politician brother whom he kidded was more “brains” than “athlete” growing up.
“I think it all worked out. I would have played in the NFL had it not been for my lack of size, speed and talent, you know,” Marco said.
