Speaking in New Hampshire today, Sen. Marco Rubio criticized President Obama and his administration for refusing to refer to radical Islamic terrorists when combating extremism around the world.
Rubio agreed with the notion that Obama’s rhetoric was “feckless, and quite frankly unstable and unclear.”
“It just seems like they bend over backwards never to use the word radical Islam,” he said in an interview on New Hampshire’s radio station WGIR.
“It’s interesting,” he added. “They have this whole summit for three days on countering radicalism — the only radicalism I see around the world today that is conducting the sort of atrocities that we are seeing is radical Islam.”
Rubio admitted that there were people of other faiths who were “mentally unstable” and committing atrocities, but that the number paled in comparison to those committed by radical Islamic terrorists.
“In its vast proportions, a great danger before the earth are people who using the teachings of Islam – as perverted as they may have made those teachings outside of their original intent or whatever – they are motivated by their own interpretation of their faith to justify these atrocities and we have to call it for what it is,” Rubio concluded, calling it an “extraordinary immediate challenge” for the world.
When asked about his thought process about running for president, Rubio pointed to the importance of foreign policy in a presidential campaign.
“Foreign policy should always be the most predominant issue in many of our federal debates, because it is the only single most important obligation of the federal government is to keep us safe,” he said.
He admitted that he was still thinking about running for president, pointing out that he was only trying to discover where he could best serve America.
“America doesn’t owe me anything, I owe America more than I could ever repay it – it literally changed the course of my family’s life … I just want to repay it or at least part of it somehow through public service.”