Posted on 05/06/2015 9:58:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Marco Rubio’s talents as a politician are undeniable. As a 2016 presidential candidate, the assets he brings to the table are particularly attractive to Republicans with a vested interest in winning back the White House. Charismatic, young, and a compelling speaker, the popular senator from a must-win state could also leverage his Hispanic background to make inroads with Latino voters. For Republicans in search of an alternative to Jeb Bush, a constituency that grows in number by the day, Rubio represents a compelling substitute.
But the Sunshine State senator has a mark against him; one he might be able to overcome in the primary that could nevertheless sink his candidacy in the general, and one he has been unable comprehensively address. The junior senator from Florida has a resume that far too closely resembles President Barack Obama’s.
That has become a trite observation to make. Rubio has been asked about his professional qualifications for the White House on several occasions, and Rubio’s backers regularly bristle at the charge that his curriculum vitae resembles the president’s. But just because everyone can see this vulnerability does not render it impotent.
In a column for the December issue of Townhall Magazine, I noted how consistently the American electorate seeks out presidents who are seen as departures from their predecessors. If you want to know who is most likely to win the White House, particularly in a non-incumbent election, look to the Oval Office’s prior occupant.
The antidote to Barack Obama’s aloofness and professorial nature might be any number of Republican candidates who are expected to run for the presidency. Rubio, too, can persuasively make the case for why his presidency would diverge dramatically from Obama’s. But more than a few are beginning to notice that the compelling speaker with a minority ethnic background who has only served a single term in the Senate is uncomfortably derivative. Even Politico is obliquely echoing Republican attacks on Obama in profiles of Rubio. “His autobiography is virtually devoid of substantive accomplishments beyond a local tree-planting project,” the outlet reported in April.
Rubio has addressed the unfavorable similarities he shares with Obama on several occasions, but he has not yet satisfied his critics. Rubio has accused the president of being a “back-bencher” in the Illinois state Senate, while he served as what his allies call the CEO of the Florida House. There, Rubio and others claim, the former Florida House Speaker managed the state’s affairs and oversaw the work of over 300 employees.
But Rubio also contends that his worldview is substantively different from Barack Obama’s. As a conservative Republican, that is no doubt true. The Florida senator is, however, asking the country to trust his judgment, and a track record upon which to base a sound judgment of Rubio’s character is precisely what is at issue.
The polls are replete with bad news for Democrats if they have the courage to look past the head-to-head topline figures, but these surveys are also just as discouraging for presidential aspirants like Rubio. A New York Times/CBS News survey released yesterday revealed that 52 percent of general election voters favor the “right experience” in a president over 35 percent who back a candidate with “fresh ideas.”
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released earlier this week confirmed that Rubio’s background as a first-term senator is a liability. But unlike the accomplished litigator and tea party icon Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) or the libertarian standard-bearer Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Rubio is uniquely susceptible to being compared unfavorably with the sitting president.
Rubio can certainly overcome this obstacle, but he has not done so yet. If voters want to make a break from the Obama era, and they seem so inclined, Republicans should be troubled by the fact that Rubio could ostensibly be cast as a mirror image of the outgoing two-term president. If Rubio becomes the nominee, he will have to formulate a comprehensive response to the ads that feature him lamenting how the nation “should have never elected a first-term senator” to the White House. For now, it seems as though Rubio is still searching for that response.
What “assets?”
Amnesty. He cannot win from the wrong side of that. He is on the wrong side of it.
Not only did he propose amnesty but it would have handed millions over to La Raza and other groups
Rubio, Jeb, Hillary and some others are in a growing competition to see who can promise the most to illegals.
perhaps the name ..LOS BANDITOS..might even be more appropriate??
Of course, and only the most clueless would see that "mirror image".
lol
As far as I’m concerned there is nothing Rubio can do to fix his insurmountability(I know not a word).
I voted for Rubio and at the time I could not have imagined his treasonous behavior, that’s why I say we need to watch closely who we elect, if a candidate has demonstrated to be a flip-flopper, backtracker, or readily changes his mind for political expedience then he should be discounted as a potential POTUS, anyone can make mistakes but such actions indicate weak character and lack of principle and leadership ability.
CRUZ 2016!
What makes you think an anti-amnesty candidate can win an election in the present-day US?
Examples, please.
Closing the border and slowing and or stopping immigration for a long time is very popular with the people.
Polls are one thing, elections are another matter entirely.
Just ask President Tancredo, Governor Cuccinelli, Senator Hayworth, or Congressman Dornan.
If you think being anti-amnesty wins elections, you really have to cite examples.
Saying "yes" in a poll is meaningless if you keep paying Juan to cut the grass, Jose to clean the pool, and Maria to wipe your baby's ass.
We have a lot of people in Congress who are anti-amnesty. That’s why Rubios gang of eight bill failed.
The reason we haven’t won a Presidential election in a while is because we have had pro-amnesty, non-conservatives on the ticket. I’m ready to give someone who is against amnesty a shot.
Your “Los Rinos” post is just Cool! Eye Yih Yih Yiah! LOL!
Nobody really runs on anti amnesty, that is the problem. The candidate that runs pro American worker anti unbridled immigration campaign will be the next President.
“What makes you think an anti-amnesty candidate can win an election in the present-day US?”
The population is consistently anti-amnesty, as it always has been. The only way the pollsters can try to show support for amnesty is by using leading questions that play on peoples’ emotions. When asked straight out about amnesty, every poll shows that Americans are against it by a large margin.
Meshugemikey made it
Yeah,
I too voted for Rubio only to be disappointed.
Like the song says I won’t be fooled again.
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