Skip to main content

Marco Rubio: The New Republican Front Man



If there is one thing the Republicans learned after this past election it is to put a Latino front and center, now that the Latin-American vote has become a significant swing vote in this country.  Marco Rubio appears to be their man of the hour, picked to rebut Obama's State of the Union address tomorrow night.  But, who is Marco Rubio?

He seems to be pretty much following the model Obama set himself for his improbable Presidential run back in 2008 by releasing his own memoir, An American Son, well in advance of what appears to be a 2016 run.  Rubio has received largely favorable national press, despite not having distinguished himself in any memorable way.

The former Florida state senate leader rode on the swell of the Tea Party in 2010, comfortably defeating Charlie Crist in the Florida U.S. Senate primary, and then wisely tacked back to the middle in the general election to gain moderate support that lifted him to victory over Crist, who ran as an independent, and the distant Democratic challenger, Kendrick Meek.  Rubio seems to be relatively pragmatic for a Republican, or at least knows when to pick his fights.   He has opted in favor of immigration reform (an abrupt shift from 2010 when he attacked McCain on offering amnesty) and has a lenient position on student loans, having recently paid off his own student loans.  On national defense and relations with Cuba, you find the same old GOP hardline views, but he will no doubt reconsider these positions in the wake of Obama's Florida victory in the general election, having won over 50% of the Cuban-American vote, by promising a more liberal view toward Cuban travel.

But, he is always quick to attack Obama, as he did back in May of 2012, when he was invited to speak at a South Carolina fundraiser.  One has to expect he will temper his comments a little in the wake of Obama's victory and high favorable rating among Latinos.

Comments

  1. It seems these days everyone has to pretend that Obama is the near cousin of either Hitler or Satan. The worst part about this, other than that it's scurrilous and insulting, is that these shitheads have no qualms about saying any of these things, and about a sitting President of the United States no less! That is all I need to know about this guy. He can't "walk back" from that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. He sure failed utterly this p.m. Plus, I always love how people benefit from government programs -- such as help with their education or help with their family's medical bills -- that they now want to deny to others. I hope that's the end of his serious ambitions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It doesn't matter who the Republicans get to speak for them, they sound exactly the same.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Meet the New Boss,same as the Old Boss......

    ReplyDelete
  5. Indeed. Thanks to you and Marti for backing me in FB. It just amazes me when one of my friends starts defending these hacks. The same guy is all over Obama whenever he makes a stumble, but not his dear friend Rubio.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rubio will have a long time living this one down,

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2DM2U-nXe0

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FYI. Someone named Karen Boswell has emailed me asking if I manage this website. I have not replied.

      Delete
  7. A quick review of LinkedIn reveals only one Karen Boswell, Professor at Siena College, New York, who might be interested. Check her email address.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It is a gmail address, so I don't know if that is the same person.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I had a professor write me sometime back that his kids were cribbing notes from the blog. I guess I should take that as a compliment. It also may explain some of the spikes we have in viewers. I just wish some of these viewers would comment more, and maybe help generate some interesting discussions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So have you heard anything from Ms. Boswell?

      Delete
    2. No. Who is to say who this mysterious Ms. Boswell is?

      Delete
    3. I have received yet another email from Karen Boswell, so I responded and asked her what her interest is in the American Historical Perspectives blog.

      Delete
  10. That would also account for all the weird searches that arrive at this blog, but it is indeed a compliment to all the work you put into your introductions. Now if only the students would put that kind of work into theirs ....

    ReplyDelete
  11. Back to Marco, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had a field day with his rebuttal. I thought Stewart was spot on in saying that the Republicans again refused to listen to the speech, preferring instead to respond to their "Obama" straw man. Makes you wonder whey they just don't tape their responses, like Boehner did, to avoid huge blunders like this one.

    ReplyDelete
  12. So now the water bottle moment becomes a promotional tool,

    http://news.yahoo.com/rubio-raises-100-000-off-water-bottle-234123237--abc-news-politics.html

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O Pioneers!

It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer.  Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions.  I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters.  Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs.  Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77.  I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not.  Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

  Welcome to this month's reading group selection.  David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908.  At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades.  Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society.  I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran.  Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Colonel

Now with Colonel Roosevelt , the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud.  -- Janet Maslin -- NY Times . Let the discussion begin!