With visit to London, Sen. Marco Rubio tries to burnish foreign policy credentials Sen. Marco Rubio is making a push this week to burnish his foreign policy credentials and establish gravitas on the world stage ahead of a possible 2016 presidential run, traveling to London to deliver a major policy address and meet British leaders. At a time of vigorous debate within the Republican Party about the United States" global role, the first-term senator from Florida is articulating a worldview that places him neatly between the GOP's tea-party-led isolationist wing and its more established interventionist wing. Speaking at the Chatham House think tank in London on Tuesday, Rubio paid homage to the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom and advocated a muscular foreign policy based on engagement with the world, both military and diplomatic. Rubio was asked in a question-and-answer session where he falls between the isolationist views espoused by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a potential 2016 presidential candidate, and the interventionist approach of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the 2008 GOP nominee. "I actually reject those two spectrums," Rubio said. That talk of hawks and doves is 20th century Cold War language that no longer applies. I believe in a strategic foreign policy. A strategic foreign policy has a toolbox that has at your disposal diplomacy, foreign aid, soft power, military power, all sorts of things. Rubio took the unusual step of directly criticizing President Obama's foreign policy during the trip, saying he did not support a proposed military strike in Syria earlier this year and was "personally skeptical" of the interim agreement reached last month over Iran's nuclear program. It is customary for U.S. politicians to avoid criticizing the president while speaking overseas. During the 2012 campaign, GOP nominee Mitt Romney painstakingly avoided direct criticism of Obama during a trip abroad. Rubio's intensified focus on foreign affairs comes at the end of a difficult year for the Cuban American senator. He has been hailed as next-generation standard-bearer for a party struggling to win over more Hispanic and young voters, but has had strained relations with the conservative base by helping to craft an immigration reform package. With his foreign policy speeches, as well as trips to such countries as Israel and Libya, Rubio is trying to show that he meets the credibility test to become commander in chief. "He's in the process of dealing with the fact that he's 42 and could pass for 32," said Steve Schmidt, a strategist on past Republican presidential campaigns. Schmidt added, "He is working to build a reputation for seriousness and thoroughness and thoughtfulness on foreign policy issues that go beyond the typical Republican talking points on Israel or the war on terror." Richard Williamson, a former assistant secretary of state who was one of Romney's top foreign policy advisers during the 2012 campaign, said that Rubio "is being shrewd to build up this pillar of his résumé and stake out a position as a responsible adult voice."