Democratic National Committee chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) argued Monday that Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) handling of a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill shows he probably couldn’t handle the pressure of being president.
“Just because he is Hispanic does not mean he automatically earns the votes of Hispanic voters across the country,” Wasserman Schultz said in an interview with MSNBC’s Jose Diaz Balart. “Jose, the last time I checked there’s a little pressure on the president of the United States. If Marco Rubio couldn’t even hack the pressure from the right wing tea party extremists after he embraced and authored and helped push through comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate, a little pressure on him and he folded like a house of cards, how will he hack the presidency?”
Wasserman Schultz’s comments came the same day Rubio is expected to announce his candidacy for president in Miami at 6 p.m.
The DNC chairwoman’s criticism refers to Rubio’s involvement in the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill.
Rubio, who rode tea party support to winning his Senate seat by defeating former Gov. Charlie Crist in the Republican primary, initially championed the comprehensive immigration reform package, sparking ire of anti-immigration hardliners. Rubio eventually argued that Congress should scale back its effort and instead try taking incremental steps toward fixing the nation’s immigration system.
Sen. Rubio clearly can’t handle pressure. When he was tapped to give the GOP response to the State of the Union and couldn’t get thru a 10’ canned speech without grabbing awkwardly for his water bottle, we all learned something. The episode seems picayune, but on some level, being president requires a good measure of sang froid. Setting aside how you handle emergencies and tense international negotiations, navigating and maintaining your gravitas and credibility during the inevitable unexpected challenges of living under a spotlight–hecklers, uncooperative babies, meeting royalty etc. are all critical skills for being effective and Rubio (and, judging by his rollout last week, Sen. Paul, for that matter) appear woefully deficient in this regard.
No problem. He’ll just gulp water…
He knows he’ll never win a national election. He’s in it for the money. Who wants to bet that he’ll be releasing a book within the next several months? Whose sales will be helped because he is “running” for President.
Not only did Rubio fold like a cheap lawn chair on the immigration bill, he’s a relentless homophobe and an all-around moron.
Massive Derp and no hope for a cure.
I see these guys running who clearly have no chance, and I wonder why.
Is it the simple building of name recognition they get from all the free publicity?
Are they setting themselves up for a lucrative future on Fox News like Huckabee and Sarah Palin?
Maybe its just the increased speaking fees they’ll get as a former contender?
Are they hoping a qualified candidate will pick them as VP?
My guess is they look at all the above and figure that no matter what, a run puts money in their pocket, so why not?