Posted on 04/15/2015 5:20:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Marco Rubio announced his candidacy for presidency of the United States at the Freedom Tower in Miami on Monday, highlighting his family’s hardscrabble immigrant roots, embracing traditional values but also vowing to usher in a “new American century.”
As a matter of political pragmatism, is there any convincing reason Rubio shouldn’t be the Republican to take on Hillary Clinton in 2016? Because when it comes to natural political talent, it unlikely the GOP can do better.
For starters, Rubio is the most compelling speaker in the Republican field.
Sen. Mike Lee says Rubio “can bring grown men to tears with emotion.” This is something voters value. And judging from yesterday’s performance, Rubio’s speeches can be infused with an emotional quality that much of the prefabricated rhetoric we hear does not have. Not only do you sense that his belief in American exceptionalism is genuine, but that his populist sensibilities will allow him to credibly broach the subject of inequality – mostly, because he has a captivating family story to lean on.
Let’s face it, even if Rubio is overrated, he’s probably the kind of consensus candidate GOP primary voters are going to have to settle on, anyway.
Other than his futile shot at immigration reform, Rubio has been reliably conservative. The Jeb Bush candidacy, driven by oodles of cash but little popular support, makes Rubio seem more palatable, while the Cruz candidacy, almost exclusively propelled by grassroots, makes him seem less severe. The money and votes will gravitate to whoever can win – if, that is, the person is somewhat ideologically acceptable to rank and file.
As Politico points out:
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll last month reflected that upside among the rank-and-file. More Republicans, 56 percent, said they could back Rubio than any other candidate, including Bush (49 percent).
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
I agree re: Cruz and Bush. I’d take Walker and maybe some others over Rubio, however.
If you had better pols, I’d like to see someone from FL on the ticket—but not with this choice.
Scary isn’t it....
Forgot about Bondi. She could be perfect in 8 years.
LBJ could have picked John Connally in 1964 since the election was going to be such a landslide that he wouldn't need to have Texas' electoral votes for his VP candidate, but situations like that are rare.
LOL! You think Hillary Clinton is a perfect ideologue?
Go lurk over at DU. She's their "Mitt Romney" --someone they've already resigned themselves to holding their noses and voting for.
Marco Rubio is a backstabbing liar and traitor. You think that would be terrific for Walker?!
Not for me. His tax proposal lost my vote! Now he has the gay marriage gaffe...
No thanks.
“I like Cruz but the reality is the GOP will fight him tooth and nail every inch of the way. They will undermine him at every opportunity and conspire to financially starve his campaign.”
Just like they did to Reagan! And that charge was led by George HW Bush!
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