Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio on Wednesday suggested that President Obama is purposely trying to cut America down.
“He has divided this country deliberately for political gain,” Rubio (R-Fla.) said Wednesday morning in a campaign speech in Charleston, S.C.
{mosads}Obama “doesn’t believe in the Constitution the way you and I do,” Rubio said. He added that Obama doesn’t believe in America as a great global power but as a power that “needs to be cut down to size.”
“In this last State of the Union [Obama] says, ‘Why is everyone so mad at me?’ It’s because of you,” the Florida senator said.
Rubio is struggling to vault himself ahead of fellow establishment candidates Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John Kasich to make himself the alternative to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, who are currently first and second in polls.
In Wednesday’s speech, Rubio distinguished himself from these current and former governors by questioning Obama’s motivations as well as his policies. Bush, Christie and Kasich all attack Obama on policy but tend to be more reluctant to question his motivations.
“We are talking about someone who does not believe in free enterprise,” Rubio told the South Carolina rally. “He believes that if you made a lot of money you must have done something wrong.
“This guy is the master of the straw man.”