Rubio: Obama was a "backbencher" as a state legislator

On paper, Marco Rubio would only have one more year as a state legislator and two more years in the U.S. Senate than President Obama did when he took office in 2008, but the Florida senator is arguing that he has far more experience.

In an interview on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, dismissed Mr. Obama's experience as "a handful of years as a backbencher in the state legislature followed by a handful of years in the Senate," and he characterized the president's time in the senate as "not really doing anything serious about any major issues."

He also suggested that Mr. Obama's pitch as the "this young candidate that was going to bring about generational change in our policies" was misleading, since he "got elected and basically pursued the same tired, big government ideas of the last 60 years."

Rubio went on to tout his nine years in the Florida legislature, including two years as its presiding officer. His four years in the Senate, Rubio said, have allowed him to travel, study and get involved shaping policies on Asia and the Western Hemisphere.

"I think that obviously not just me, but there are others as well out there running who'll bring to the table characteristics that are much different from the person who currently occupies the office," Rubio said.

Mr. Obama, by comparison, served eight years in the Illinois State Legislature and had served four years of his first term as a United States senator when he was elected.

What they both share is a clear desire to move beyond the Senate after just one term or less in that chamber.

"It's very difficult to set the tone simply from the Senate," Rubio said. "You can be one of many voices, and influential voices in the Senate. But ultimately, only the presidency can set the true tenor and direction of our foreign policy and national security. And I don't think anyone can argue that we are safer or more respected in the world today than we were five years ago."

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He also reiterated that nobody will keep him out of the running if he decides to take a shot at the White House - not even his sometimes mentor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

"I wouldn't be running against Jeb Bush. If I ran, I would run because I believe I'm the right person for the right time in our country's history," Rubio said in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt. "I wouldn't view it as me running against Jeb Bush. I was considering, I would consider running whether he was in the race or not in the race. And so me, it really has nothing to do with him."

Rubio professed "admiration" for Bush and said he would be a "significant" candidate, both because of his ability to raise large sums of cash and gather formidable talent for his campaign.