On February 12, President Obama gave his State of the Union address – which was great. And Marco Rubio, a rising star in the Republican party, a senator from Florida, gave the Republican rebuttal, and it was a lie from start to finish.
The Republicans are struggling to rebrand and repackage themselves. Right now, it’s a party that cares only about the rich, that seeks to take women’s health back to the 1950s, that seeks to turn Medicare into a voucher system, to privatize Social Security, to redefine rape, to…well, you get the general idea. Rubio’s rebuttal, as one anchor put it, “was tinker-toys, a kid’s presentation of a philosophy at the 9th grade level.”
First, Rubio said that Obama believed government was the answer to everything, that the free enterprise system was to blame for our economic woes, that higher taxes would solve our problems. He then went on to explain how he and his family had benefited from government programs – through education loans, Medicare for his parents, and the lure of the American dream that anyone, anywhere, could achieve their full potential.
When I watched Rubio, my jaw dropped at the multitude of lies. He’s a member of the party that, under George W Bush, started two wars; created Homeland Security and the TSA, two huge government agencies whose number of employees is a government secret; under whose watch 9-11 happened; under whose watch we had the financial meltdown of 2008. Bush was a disaster for this country and for much of the world. But Rubio seems to have forgotten all that. In Rubio’s world, Obamacare is the terrible disaster that will bankrupt businesses, that robs people of the health care they now have, and just how are we going to pay for it all, anyway? Why should anyone be guaranteed health care?
Well, Marco, the Pentagon budget could pay for universal health care.
I’m not crazy about everything Obama does- I dislike the drone business, that Gitmo is still open for business, and I don’t understand why we can’t end Afghanistan today rather than in 2014. I don’t understand why Obama hammers away about how great our military is and will continue to be. On the other hand, he may be the most transformative and smartest president we’ve had in decades, with a unique background that effectively embraces a global humanity – and not just a community of aging, rich white men.
Obama understands that as a country we can’t ignore the vulnerable, sick, and aging in our society. He understands that an affordable college education is intrinsic to our success and continued prosperity as a nation. He understands the need for a balance between government and private enterprise. He understands, as the Republicans do NOT, that equal rights must be extended to gays in society, in the military, across the board.
The synchro? Rob and I happened to have lunch today with Don, his off-road biking buddy, and Craig, Don’s brother-in-law. A spur of the moment thing. I try not to have political discussions with people I’ve just met. I become obnoxious and intolerant of views that disenfranchise the many. Yet, Craig and I ended up having a civil and interesting conversation he initiated about politics, life, and all the rest of it.
He sounded reasonable on some issues – like unions. As a retired firefighter, he understands the importance of unions, which are supported by Democrats, not Republicans. He says he belongs to no political party, is disgusted with both parties, doesn’t understand why we are the world cop. OK, keep talking, Craig. Then he went through this long, convoluted thing about how he’s for equal rights for everyone but that he has a problem with the, well, legal marriage for gays. I’m thinking, Huh?
“Really? It boils down to semantics for you?” I asked. “You think they should have all the rights as a heterosexual spouse in terms of property, death benefits, all of that, but that they shouldn’t be married?”
“Marriage,” Craig said, folding his hands together on the table, “is between one man and one woman. It’s in the Bible.”
At this point, I excused myself and said I needed to go next door to pick up a few groceries.
That’s how I felt during Rubio’s rebuttal, like I should excuse myself and find something else to do. The Republican Party, as it exists right now, is a dying paradigm. You can’t dismiss most of the electorate – women, Hispanics, gays, people of color, the poor and elderly, the vulnerable and disenfranchised – and win any election in this country. Even Rubio, whose parents are Cuban immigrants, who represents the rapidly expanding Hispanic electorate, can’t save this party, as it exists now, with a platform that benefits the few at the expense of the many.
I thought Rubio stepping out of the frame to drink some water was a very awkward and distracting moment. I’ve learned through people on Facebook that “dry mouth” is a symptom of lying. Rubio was lying about many things in his rebuttal and then had to parch his thirst before he could go on. I don’t recall seeing Obama drink any water during his hour long State of the Union. Rubio spoke for 14 minutes and couldn’t wait to drink until after he finished?
Rubio’s speech angered me with his anti-government rhetoric. He’s a major hypocrite. I am sick of anti-government people running for political office. No corporation on Wall Street would hire an anti-corporation person to work in their offices. No school would hire an anti-education person to be a teacher. I just don’t get it. If you hate government, fine. Don’t work in the government. It’s that simple.
I think Rubio’s chances of being the GOP nominee in 2016 actually lessened. He might be the VP candidate, though.
I think he blew his chances!
Congress is constipated and it’s going to take a lot of Metamucil to flush the Republicans out.
Great line!
I DID have to get up and walk out of our LR quite soon after the President began his speech. My hubby is an Obama hater. In his eyes, O can do nothing right and he is to blame for all the woes of the world. Just before I got up and left, hubby said something that Obama had done and I finally said, NO. That was BUSH!! There’s no debating ignorant people, and in this situation, I regret to say my husband is ignorant and biased beyond belief. Like Trish, I disagree with some of the things O does and has done, but I also agree that he does and has done much that seems correct and that I support. He inherited a gross mess when he first went into office, and the mess was so huge I don’t think even two terms will be enough time to pull us out of it all, but at least he’s giving it his best shot.
Repubs have very short memories about the bush years.
As I’ve said previously I never took too much notice of US politics prior to reading your blog. I can get quite cross enough about what’s happening in the UK. I didn’t see much of Obama’s speech but the bit about gun law seemed convincing and what he said appeared from the heart. But then our UK news went on to say that the changes he suggested are unlikely to be approved. So is he a President without power?
He’s a president who has to deal with an intractable congress. The gun control measures seem pretty simple – background checks. People talk about banning assault weapons, but that probably won’t happen. There’s a lot Obama can do through executive action, though. So there’s hope!
I watched both last night, too. I didn’t intend to watch more than the beginning of what I knew would be an hour long, but it was really good. The part towards the end about people deserving to have a vote who have been impacted by guns was really good, and his “laundry list” was plenty long but I agreed with almost everything. Rubio? He seemed to do nothing but blame Obama for everything, offering no solutions himself. And you’re right: big government is the problem, but it sure helped his family! Didn’t he see the contradiction??
You have to wonder what Rubio “sees”!