Florida Sen. Marco Rubio defended his voting record Sunday, saying that he is campaigning for the presidency so that legislation the Senate passes will actually be signed into law, instead of being vetoed by President Obama.
“I don’t like missing votes, but I’d hate to wake up the first Tuesday of November to see that Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States,” the GOP White House candidate said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Mr. Rubio disputed the characterization of himself as someone who doesn’t care about his job, saying he spends his time on the road, meeting people and convincing them that he is going to be a capable leader.
“I miss [votes] because I’m campaigning so that in the future, those votes actually mean something,” he said, adding that Mr. Obama would likely veto legislation passed in the Republican-led Congress. But he if were president, “then they’ll be law,” Mr. Rubio said.
His voting record has been a point of concern among the other presidential candidates, who say that his inability to do his job now could suggest he would not be able to lead the executive branch. He has missed 8 percent of the votes, the highest rate in the Senate.
Mr. Rubio also addressed his showdown with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at the CNBC Republican candidates debate on Wednesday, saying he did not want to shut him down on national television but had to respond to Mr. Bush’s attack on his voting record.
“He said something, I had to respond. I do believe that Jeb Bush was convinced by his advisers that attacking me will help him,” the senator said. “I don’t agree with it, but I’m not running his campaign.”
Mr. Rubio said he did not want to attack any of his fellow GOP candidates, because while he wants to be the nominee, he doesn’t want to undermine any Republicans in a way that would make it harder for their party to win the White House. He said that was the reason that Mr. Obama was re-elected in 2012, because Republicans spent so much time attacking each other that it created vulnerabilities and handed the White House back to its current inhabitant.
He also addressed concerns that have been raised about his lack of executive experience. Unlike some of his fellow candidates, Mr. Rubio has not been a governor, and he is serving his first term in the Senate.
But he has the experience and the knowledge to be an effective leader, he said.
“The presidency isn’t like being a United States senator, but it’s also not like being a governor. There’s no position quite like being president,” he said.
Mr. Rubio said that nobody else in the race has better judgment than his, especially when it comes to foreign policy.
• Anjali Shastry can be reached at ashastry@washingtontimes.com.
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