DON’T COUNT ON SEEING MARCO RUBIO IN THE 2016 GENERAL ELECTION

….Rubio’s $80,000 “Luxury Boat”

 

Marco Rubio’s rising star still has some serious tarnish.

 

With the GOP’s Florida Senator Marco Rubio looking like the possible “establishment” candidate if the flamboyant Donald Trump doesn’t get the nod, I decided to do some homework in checking out the details of the young senator.

 

One of the first statements I came across while Googling the senator’s background immediately surprised me, and definitely got my attention.

 

“Unfortunately, for Rubio and his growing base of influential backers, closer scrutiny of the Washington tea leaves portends fatal political consequences: Rubio cannot and will not win the presidency, and there are many reasons Rubio is unelectable.”

 

Then the article went on to list all the reasons that Senator Rubio could not be elected.

 

What became interesting was how consistent the information was against the Senator, and in checking the details, the information was correct.

 

Listed below is a synopsis of what was offered about Senator Marco Rubio and why he would not be expected to be elected president:

 
***Senator Rubio changed his mind after hearing from the Tea Party, and decided to oppose reasonable reform of the nation’s immigration laws.  He has also voted more than once to extend the laws that enable the NSA to conduct massive electronic surveillance against ordinary, law-abiding Americans.

***Rubio has declared that CIA torturers deserve our thanks, and he has voted to cover up a report of savage torture of prisoners by agents of the CIA.  He has not only opposed increases to the minimum wage, but has even sponsored a bill to reduce pay for US workers.

 

***Marco Rubio voted to double the interest rate on student loans and he supported legislation to create a special tax loophole just for the sons and daughters of America’s wealthiest families.

***The senator sponsored legislation to provide a tax cut only for families with an annual income over a quarter of a million dollars, with no benefits for any other Americans.  He also voted to give the US President the power of indefinite detention of American citizens on mere accusation, without criminal charge.

***As Senator, Rubio voted for legislation that would prohibit certain groups of prisoners from receiving fair trial as the Constitution requires.  In addition, Rubio has consistently voted against taking action to bring climate change under control, and has said that he doesn’t believe the scientific studies that conclude climate change is caused by human activity.

 

***Marco Rubio voted against the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, which would have ended special subsidies and tax exemptions to oil and gas corporations.  After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Marco supported legislation that would make it even more difficult to hold oil companies accountable for offshore drilling disasters.

***And finally, Marco Rubio voted against creating a Job Corps for US veterans.

 

With the imminent decline and fall of Jeb Bush, the Republican establishment’s previous candidate of choice, signs of Rubio’s coming coronation are clear. There are reports of a "Rubio surge" in the press and in polls.  There are new commitments from influential GOP donors like billionaire investor Paul Singer, and a growing list of key GOP establishment endorsements. The latest debates only bolstered the perception that Rubio, not Bush, represents the GOP's elite kingmakers. 

 

But, Rubio’s list of accomplishments doesn’t include anything that can be seen, heard or touched in the actual world.  Today’s campaign dynamics will soon reveal that there’s not much "there", there, even on Rubio’s own campaign website: “As a U.S. Senator, Marco has led a bold offensive to institute innovative, conservative ideas to address these fundamental issues and to restore hope in the American Dream.”

 

His site has nice words, but what has he done?  Noting Rubio's anemic record, one can see why Ted Cruz backers recently released a humorous ad that asks, “Can anyone think of ANYTHING Marco Rubio’s ever done? Anything at all?” 

 

Like the GOP, Marco Rubio finds himself trapped between two forces: anti-immigrant, anti-Latino Tea Party activists / and Latino voters.  That problem will become even larger this election season:

 

This issue already got Rubio into trouble during his bid to gain the VP spot in 2012.  Activists on both sides hammered him back then, and the problem shows signs of getting even worse.

 

The self-described "son of exiles,” Rubio has centered his campaign narrative around the story of his immigrant parents.  Rubio has said, “they came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover.” Now, that would mean all the history books will need to be altered to reflect that Castro’s revolution actually took place before his parents arrived in America on May 27, 1956.  That was a full two and a half years before the Cuban revolution took place.  Rubio’s phony immigration story will eventually sink him under the scrutiny of general election scrutiny.

 

The fight brewing between Rubio and the Tea Party favorite, Ted Cruz, reflects the division that splits the GOP. While Cruz continues to walk the talk of a die-hard Tea Partier, Rubio too launched his successful bid to become Florida's junior senator of the Tea Party.  But he has since adopted more "moderate" tones and policy positions of his former mentor Jeb Bush. This has alienated the Tea Party and they are publicly attacking Rubio as a “sellout” on immigration and other issues. Though Rubio has since renounced previous positions on comprehensive immigration reform, many in the Tea Party are supporting Cruz, who has wasted no time highlighting these differences during the debates. 

 

51% of American Cuban voters support President Obama’s normalization of relations with Cuba, a majority that continues to grow as younger Cuban voters move toward ending the decades of embargo and other old issues that Rubio still supports.

 

Rubio will not deliver 50% of the Latino vote the GOP needs to win the presidential race. Conventional political wisdom today says that to win the presidency, a GOP candidate needs to secure at least 47% of the Latino vote. Rubio's positions on many issues are too far to the right of most Latinos.  As an example, he recently came out in favor of deporting DREAMers, the Latino students fighting for legal status.  Those positions are guaranteed to bring shouts of "No Somos Rubios" (“We’re not Rubios” and “We are not white") heard from Latinos across the country during the last presidential election.

 

Rubio’s rise has already given way to increased and intensified attacks from Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and other candidates. By the time Rubio would take center stage against a Democratic opponent, he would look like the Walking Dead of US Politics.

 

On top of everything else, Rubio can’t even balance his own checkbook.  Reports of his disastrous personal finances will continue to dog him. Revelations of this fiasco have forced him to respond by calling himself an "average guy with debt." In his 2012 memoir, he confesses to suffering from a “lack of bookkeeping skills” and an “imperfect accounting system.” These statements may engender sympathy from some voters.  But others may reject economic ideas from this average American with debt who managed to buy himself an $80,000 luxury boat. Rubio's calls for a balanced budget amendment under these conditions would be hilarious to watch.

 

In reality, Rubio may not even deliver his home state of Florida. Electoral dynamics have turned Florida into a tossup state in 2016. Changing demographics, a history of contested elections and the rise of the non-Republican Florida Latino voter means that Rubio may not be able to deliver his home state.

 

Rubio's continued stubborn opposition to ending the US embargo of Cuba puts him squarely against discussions initiated since the Obama administration announced its normalization of relations with the island.  Denying the country’s favorite Major League sport’s talent from coming into the country will not sound very inviting when America’s favorite pastime ramps up just before the election season ends.

 

Watching what happens to Marco Rubio between now and November will continue to be very interesting.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016