Obama worse today than when elected: Marco Rubio

OTTUMWA, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio balked Monday at rivals comparing him to President Obama being elected as a first-term senator, saying the level of experience isn’t what went wrong for Mr. Obama.

“I don’t believe Barack Obama is a bad president because of his lack of experience. He now has seven years of presidential experience and he is worse today than he was at the beginning,” Mr. Rubio told reporters after a town hall meeting here.

“He’s a bad president because his ideas don’t work. They’ve never worked and they are worse today than ever before,” he said. “He’s undermined America’s standing in the world. He’s undermined our military. He’s undermined our free enterprise system.

“That’s why he’s struggled as president and done tremendous damage to America,” Mr. Rubio said.

The Florida senator, who has spend six years honing his national security chops on the foreign relations and intelligence committees, also declared that he was the most qualified GOP candidate to be commander in chief.

“I don’t think anyone running as a Republican is better prepared on day one to do the job and be commander in chief. That is the most important job,” he said.

With two weeks until Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, Mr. Rubio has been criticized, most aggressively by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for seeking the highest office in America with just one term as a senator, as Mr. Obama did in 2008.

Most polls show Mr. Rubio running strong in third place behind billionaire businessman Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. He’s battling to keep ahead of a pack of candidates in the middle of the field, including Mr. Christie, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Mr. Rubio touted his national security skill during the town hall meeting, which was attended by about 250 people at an events center.

“When I’m president, we are going to have a real war on terror,” Mr. Rubio said.