Marco Rubio Speaks at Reagan Library

On Tuesday night, Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library as he continued a swing through California, raising his national profile and speculation that he is angling for the vice presidential spot on the 2012 Republican ticket.

Praising Reagans leadership, Rubio took aim at the size and scope of the federal government.

Today we have built for ourselves a government that not even the richest and most prosperous nation on the face of the Earth can fund or afford to pay for. An extraordinary tragic accomplishment, if you can call it that, said Rubio. And that is where we stand today. And so, if defining the proper role of government was one of the central issues of the Reagan era, it remains that now. The truth is that people are going around saying that, well, were worried about let me just add something to this because I think this is an important forum for candor.

I know that it is popular in my party to blame the president, the current president. But the truth is the only thing this president has done is accelerate policies that were already in place and were doomed to fail. All he is doing through his policies is making the day of reckoning come faster, but it was coming nonetheless, added Rubio. What we have now is not sustainable. The role of government and the role that government plays now in America cannot be sustained the way it is. Now some are worried about how it has to change, we have to change it. The good news is it is going to change. It has to change. Thats not the issue. The issue is not whether the role that government now plays in America will change. The question is how will it change. Will it change because we make the changes necessary? Or will it change because our creditors force us to make these changes?