Marco Rubio, meet your people

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio should man up and meet face-to-face with the people he was elected to represent.

People want to be heard about the changes taking place in Washington, particularly plans to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. It’s no wonder, since 2.1 million Floridians get health care through Obamacare plans, more than any other state.

A lot of people are worried they’re going to lose access to health care. For some, this is a life-and-death issue. And yes, they get emotional about it.

But rather than accept town hall invitations in Tampa and South Florida during the congressional recess — let alone schedule his own public events — Florida’s junior senator took a trip to Europe with his wife and, reportedly, some other unnamed senators.

In the absence of information about his trip, Rubio led people to believe he would not be home in time to hold town hall meetings. He came clean about his calendar only after being spotted in Miami by an activist.

We don’t begrudge Rubio, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a trip to Europe to meet with German and French officials. Such face-to-face meetings are undoubtedly beneficial in nurturing relationships with concerned friends across the pond.

But don’t Rubio’s constituents also deserve a chance to hear from him?

Rubio now says he is avoiding town hall meetings because they have become a media spectacle for people to “heckle and scream at me in front of cameras.”

“What these groups really want is for me to schedule a public forum, they then organize three, four, five, six hundred liberal activists in the two counties or wherever I am in the state,” he told CBS4-Miami’s Jim DeFede on Sunday.

It’s true that many people have been rude and obnoxious at town hall meetings held by other members of Congress. And we believe Rubio when he says activists are instructed to go to town halls early, “take up all the front seats” and ask lots of questions.

But judging by Rubio’s performance during the presidential campaign, he can handle himself in front of a difficult audience far better than most.

When it comes to stating a position and explaining himself, Rubio is one of the best politicians out there. He comes across as authentic, informed and likable. You may not always agree with him, but you’ve got to acknowlege he can explain issues better than a certain someone with big hands.

We also get that ACA is flawed and needs fixing. Among other things, it penalizes businesses that provide expensive insurance plans to employees. It’s caused some insurance companies to pull out of state exchanges because they’re losing money. And because it requires big employers to provide health care to people who work more than 30 hours, it’s created a new workforce of “29ers.”

But people want to understand the Republican plan to replace Obamacare. And rather than help people see, Rubio is approaching the issue through a personal political lens.

Other Republicans have held town hall meetings and allowed people to vent, boo, ask questions, listen, argue with one another and somewhere in the mix, hear what they had to say.

Rubio should take a page from the playbook of Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis of New Port Richey, who entered a crowded town hall through the front door, answered questions, listened hard, explained his position and when the meeting was over, went outside to talk to those who couldn’t get a seat inside.

“Their worries are real. And their stories are genuine,” Bilirakis told Bloomberg Politics. “I wouldn’t be a good congressman if I didn’t hear you out.”

We’re not saying tough crowds and thorny issues are easy. But serving in the U.S. Senate isn’t designed for the faint of heart.

“Welcome to the real world of responsibility,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday on CNN, talking about Republicans who don’t want to hold town halls.

Rubio himself had a very different tone in this 2009 tweet, a year before he was elected to the Senate: “memo to establishment (in both parties): the angry folks at healthcare townhalls are REAL & their views are shared by a growing majority.”

And consider what former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot at an outdoor meeting with constituents in 2011, said on Twitter: “To the politicians who have abandoned their civic obligations, I say this: Have some courage. Face your constituents. Hold town halls.”

Meeting with constituents — even angry ones — shouldn’t be called courageous. It should be called doing your job.