It's been so long. Clearly I am not as dedicated to political blogging as I'd hoped. Since my last blog (eons ago) the Iowa caucuses happened, which I guess cemented Bernie Sanders as a legitimate opponent to Hillary Clinton, and supposedly coalesced establishment support behind Marco Rubio. We'll see...
Tonight's GOP debate showcased something about Rubio I've been saying since he got into the race. He is the embodiment of what Republicans hate about Obama. (And for the sake of the analysis in this post I'm excluding the fact that so much of what so many people have found objectionable about Obama whether or stated or unstated is that he is black and they whether consciously or unconsciously are racist.)
For awhile I've been saying that Rubio made me understand what Republicans -- particularly John McCain in 2008 -- (and Hillary in 2008 too) found so upsetting about Obama's candidacy, that he was all style and no substance, had such limited experience on the national stage and that he was wedded to memorized talking points that his candidacy had to be the result of unparalleled naked ambition. The parallels between Rubio and Obama are uncanny, the age, the limited number of years in the senate, the lack of any executive experience, the life story narrative, the attractive young family. etc.
But I've also always felt this comparison to Obama was unfair, because Rubio is no Obama. Rubio has none of Obama's saving graces, the once-in-a-generation charisma, the ability to capsulize an American moment, and most importantly Obama's (for good and bad) Spock-like thoughtfulness and analytical ability.
Tonight brought this all to the forefront. When Christie called Rubio out on relying on talking points, Rubio relied (verbatim) on talking points. Clearly, Rubio's odd rendition of his (multiple verbatim) statements that Obama was not incompetent, and on the contrary that Obama was competently and purposefully destroying America was meant to head off any Obama/Rubio experience comparisons (i.e. Obama is not incompetent he is just competent and bad things, I'll be competent at good things). I guess on that front it makes sense. However the fact that he repeated without variation four times the same exact point brought out the fact that he has all of 2008 Obama's weaknesses and absolutely NONE of his selling points.
After tonight, if I were the Republican establishment I would be thinking long and hard whether Rubio was my guy.Mark my words, Hillary will destroy him.
Tonight's GOP debate showcased something about Rubio I've been saying since he got into the race. He is the embodiment of what Republicans hate about Obama. (And for the sake of the analysis in this post I'm excluding the fact that so much of what so many people have found objectionable about Obama whether or stated or unstated is that he is black and they whether consciously or unconsciously are racist.)
For awhile I've been saying that Rubio made me understand what Republicans -- particularly John McCain in 2008 -- (and Hillary in 2008 too) found so upsetting about Obama's candidacy, that he was all style and no substance, had such limited experience on the national stage and that he was wedded to memorized talking points that his candidacy had to be the result of unparalleled naked ambition. The parallels between Rubio and Obama are uncanny, the age, the limited number of years in the senate, the lack of any executive experience, the life story narrative, the attractive young family. etc.
But I've also always felt this comparison to Obama was unfair, because Rubio is no Obama. Rubio has none of Obama's saving graces, the once-in-a-generation charisma, the ability to capsulize an American moment, and most importantly Obama's (for good and bad) Spock-like thoughtfulness and analytical ability.
Tonight brought this all to the forefront. When Christie called Rubio out on relying on talking points, Rubio relied (verbatim) on talking points. Clearly, Rubio's odd rendition of his (multiple verbatim) statements that Obama was not incompetent, and on the contrary that Obama was competently and purposefully destroying America was meant to head off any Obama/Rubio experience comparisons (i.e. Obama is not incompetent he is just competent and bad things, I'll be competent at good things). I guess on that front it makes sense. However the fact that he repeated without variation four times the same exact point brought out the fact that he has all of 2008 Obama's weaknesses and absolutely NONE of his selling points.
After tonight, if I were the Republican establishment I would be thinking long and hard whether Rubio was my guy.Mark my words, Hillary will destroy him.
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