“Marco Rubio by Gage Skidmore 3” by Gage Skidmore. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

Florida’s Junior Senator has somehow cultivated a reputation among Republicans as a “serious lawmaker.” That alone should stimulate red flags about the GOP establishment. The media takes Rubio’s words more seriously than Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz because Rubio presents himself in a more favorable way. But Rubio is simply a well-polished pol unlike Trump or Cruz – in reality his rhetoric is similar and the ability he has demonstrated to pull the wool over the media’s eyes make him a far more dangerous potential Presidential nominee, or dare I say it President (I have my theories on why the GOP might win this Presidential Election – it won’t be something many progressives want to hear but I will save that for later this week).

From a political perspective Rubio seems to have survived all of his previous mini-crises  better than other Republicans save Donald Trump. His “sip watched around the globe” could have been fatal if he was as unnatural as Jindal, Christie or Mark Sanford but he survived it. He somehow was able to take the right-wing rebellion on his immigration views and spin it to where he looked reasonable and conservative – thanks largely to Jeb Bush’s willingness to own a more aggressive pro-immigration stance. His misstatements in debates and on the stump have largely been glossed over and his seemingly disingenuous statements about faith and religion have been mostly ignored.

While Cruz and Trump may appear to be rougher around the edges, it is Rubio who motivation in this race appears to be pure personal hatred of the current Commander-in-Chief and disrespect for the office he seeks. Time and again when speaking of President Obama, Senator Rubio’s tone reflects that of a bitter child.

Fox example:

“We already have a president now that has no class. We have a president now that does selfie-stick videos, that invites YouTube stars there, people that eat cereal out of a bathtub.” “It’s important to have a presidency that restores dignity and class to the White House.”

Rubio unlike President Obama who he claims has “no class” has made his living as a politician by taking pot-shots at others in office and pushing a strict ideological agenda. That agenda has led Rubio to essentially claim President Obama has committed treason against this country by making the following statement in New Hampshire just over two weeks ago:

“It’s now abundantly clear: Barack Obama has deliberately weakened America”

Senator Rubio is implying strongly that President Obama has committed treason and might in fact be a foreign agent – a real life Manchurian Candidate. Given these allegations, Rubio should have been forced by the national political press to give specifics about this comment – which foreign government has infiltrated this administration? What in the way of proof does he offer for this audacious claim? Why hasn’t he raised the issue on the Senate floor? Given Rubio’s zeal perhaps it is Cuba, Venezuela or Iran that he suspects has set President Obama up as a Manchurian Candidate.

Of course, Rubio cannot offer any proof because no such evidence exists. Yet the media has allowed him to get away with making such a claim – a statement that if made by Trump would elicited days and days cable news analysis. Rubio in his rhetorical barbs attempts to soil the very dignity of the office he seeks to win election to, even if the political press seems keen on protecting him as a potential bulwark against the nomination of Trump or Cruz.

Rubio ironically when it comes to foreign policy has put his own interests above the state he represents and the nation he seeks to lead by making a number of damaging statements about the improving state of US-Cuban relations. Rubio’s ideological zeal on this particular issue is far from the mainstream of thought here in Florida or nationally. It’s fine when you believe in something to go to the mat on it, but Rubio’s grandstanding on the issue and claims he will block any Presidential nominee HURTS our nation’s ability to improve relations with a neighbor and HURTS the ability of the state he represents to reap the economic benefits of the type of free trade Rubio favors with other nations across the globe.

Rubio has also been the most forceful advocate in the 2015 Presidential race of the neo-conservative doctrine. This is the doctrine that has led this nation into an endless state of war is actually a liberal idea that originated on the Democratic side of the aisle in the office of the late Senator Scoop Jackson (D-Washington) and eventually was adopted by elements of the Republican Party. Historically, Republicans had been less willing to use force than Democrats but that radically changed during the administration of George W. Bush. The neo-con takeover of GOP foreign policy realigned where the major parties stood on foreign affairs and during the Obama Administration, persistent criticisms of the President’s policy have come from the neo-conservatives. We have also seen persistent critiques from Democrats – I personally have felt the President has been naive in how he’s handled parts of the global picture including Putin’s Russia which I have long felt was a major threat to American and western interests. But in terms of Syria, I believe Putin’s Russia is right to try and prop up President Assad. The neoconservative critique of the President includes discussion of Syria, where the obsession with Putin and Iran have led neocons like Rubio to long advocate arming Syrian rebels. Ironically the vast majority of christians in Syria back Assad and the neocons who have aligned with the christian right in the United States advocate much like they did in Iraq overthrowing a secular government and potentially replacing it with a religious theocracy that might even be part of IS/Daesh. Yet it is Obama who is deliberately weakening America?

The nomination and election of Senator Rubio is potentially one the most dangerous things that could happen to this country. An immature politician who has been coddled by the press and has some very wrong ideas about this country and its leaders, the role of the military and the world we live in. Quite honestly as terrible as Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are, at least they are more skeptical of the use of American military power than Rubio and both have accomplishments outside the field of politics to hang their hat on – Rubio does not. He is nothing but a petty, immature political hack who is not ready for prime time.