A lot of attention has been paid to Senator Marco Rubio of Florida in the past 18 months since he was elected to the US Senate by the Sunshine State’s voters.
Rubio, just about to become 41 next month, is seen as the “shining star” of the Republican Party’s future, often called the “Cuban” Barack Obama!
Rubio is handsome, charismatic, dynamic, and has an attractive family, and he is loved by the right wing conservatives in the Republican Party. He promoteds the conservative cause in an effective fashion, and is remembered for his Florida state legislative career, including a stint as the House Speaker. He is someone who is likely to be a star figure in the party for decades to come, and he is seen as extremely ambitious, sometimes imagined as the first Hispanic President of the United States.
Rubio has been the center of attention for many months, as a front runner for the Vice Presidency, and many think Mitt Romney will select him. But before any such event happens, which is certainly possible, let us look at the unvarnished facts about Marco Rubio.
The idea that Hispanics and Latinos will rush to support Mitt Romney, if he selects Rubio for Vice President, is laughable!
Polls show that Barack Obama is favored in Florida, and that if Rubio is added to the Romney ticket, the lead for Obama grows wider!
Just because in a Senate race Rubio is able to win, does not mean he would help the Romney candidacy.
Rubio would outshine Romney on the campaign trail, and the question is does Romney really want that?
Also, Rubio would not be a good Number Two, as his ego and personality would make him a bad supporting team member.
The questions surrounding his ethics would get in the way, including expenditures while House Speaker in Florida, and the misleading campaign story that his parents escaped Fidel Castro, when they actually migrated from Cuba two years before Castro came to power.
Rubio’s hypocrisy regarding the DREAM Act stands out too, as he has always been opposed to the allowing of children of illegal immigrants to become citizens by military service or graduating college, but now wants a substitute DREAM Act, which allows those activities, but does not give citizenship automatically, an obvious campaign ploy!
Above all, though, is the issue whether Marco Rubio can represent the Hispanic-Latino community as a son of Cuban immigrants who came legally in the mid 1950s.
One needs to realize that only 14 percent of Hispanics and Latinos, in a recent poll, support Mitt Romney, and no matter what he does, that number will not probably rise even to John McCain’s 31 percent in 2008, and certainly not George W. Bush’s 44 percent in 2004. With the hard line on immigration reform supported by Romney and Rubio, why would any larger number support Romney because of Rubio?
And also the fact emerges that Cuban Americans number only about 1.8 million out of a Census figure of 50.5 million for Hispanics and Latinos, meaning only about 3.5 percent of this group are Cuban. What makes anyone think that Mexican-Americans, about 64 percent of this total, and Puerto Ricans, about 10 percent, and all of the other myriad groups of Hispanics and Latinos, are going to relate to someone who is only one out of about 30 members of the broad based group in this nation?
Romney would gain little from selecting Rubio, but Rubio would become the automatic front runner for 2016 if he ran with Romney, even on a losing ticket. Keep this in mind as Rubio acts as if he does not want the Vice Presidential nomination, but at the same time, is acting as if he does!