Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio has given up on the Senate because he “hates it” and it’s “boring.” He has set his sights on the White House, but doesn’t he realize this is a grueling job? Has he seen the gray hairs on President Obama’s head? If he can’t stand the heat in the Senate, how can we expect him to stand the heat in the White House? 

The Washington Post zeroed in on Marco Rubio’s voting record, which is abysmal. But the bigger takeaway for me is that Rubio doesn’t understand responsibility. He doesn’t want to earn his stripes but wants the top job without putting in the work. If he doesn’t get his way he fumes and pouts. He thinks the bills that came up for a vote in the Senate are meaningless, so, why bother showing up? I might also add, his campaign schedule is relatively light, so if he’s not on the campaign trail and he’s not in Washington D.C., exactly where is he? He’s one of the federal employees he is accusing of mooching off the system.

Rubio said he’s missing votes because “I am leaving the Senate. I am not running for reelection.”

Washington Post:  Now, he’s done. “He hates it,” a longtime friend from Florida said, speaking anonymously to say what Rubio would not. Which makes for an odd campaign message. Rubio must convince voters that his decision to leave the Senate — giving up the power he already has — is actually a mark of character, a sign that he is too dedicated to public service to stay.

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He skipped 10 percent of them in 2014 — making him one of the most absent senators, with the 88th-best attendance record, according to statistics kept by GovTrack.us. He began missing committee work, even on the subject he most identified with. In 2014, Rubio missed 34 of 68 committee hearings and meetings in the Foreign Relations committee, according to his office’s tally.

It should be noted that Rubio didn’t announce his presidential bid until April 2015, so what was his excuse for missing all those votes, meetings and committee hearings? Sounds like he’s is a quitter like Alaska’s half-term Gov. Sarah Palin. He has a questionable work ethic and a lack of understanding of responsibility. In short, he doesn’t have the qualities to become our next president. The headline Marco Rubio gives up on Senate after one term, along with his scant voting record, should be enough to raise all kinds of red flags.

Election news cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.