George McGovern: "The Case For Liberalism, A Defense Of The Future Against The Past"
Marco Rubio: New face -- with old ideas
You must admit, it is amusing. One of the biggest complaints we've heard from Republicans about Barack Obama is: Boy, were we wrong to elect a first-term senator as president. We'll never make that mistake again!
Now look at Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, the first three Republicans to announce for president in 2016. They're all -- guess what? -- first-term senators! But, of course, they insist, it's different for them. Yeah, right.
Ironically, of the three, the one with the least to offer is Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Ironic because, just three years ago, he was considered the "boy wonder" of the Republican Party: a new face, with new ideas, and a Latino to boot. Indeed, that's how he introduced himself as a presidential candidate on April 13: the young, forward-looking, next-generation leader who'd take the country into "another American century," as opposed to all those other politicians whose ideas were "stuck in the 20th century." "Yesterday is over, and we're never going back," he promised supporters.
And yet, when you look at Marco Rubio up close, he's the exact opposite of what he pretends to be. He's a young man, all right -- but with nothing but old ideas. Rubio's the one stuck in yesterday.
On Cuba, for example, Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, opposes normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba, even though it's supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, hardly a leftist organization, and even though the U.S. embargo against Cuba has been a dismal failure for over 50 years. According to the Florida International University's 2014 poll, 90 percent of young Cuban-Americans support improving relations with Cuba, while Rubio still spouts the anti-Castro rhetoric of the 1950s. When it comes to Cuba, he's the one "stuck in the 20th century."
On immigration reform, Rubio -- originally heralded as the man to lead the Republican Party's outreach to Hispanics -- has instead alienated the national Latino community by his about-face on the issue. In 2013, he led the bipartisan "gang of eight" senators in crafting the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate -- whereupon, as soon as he got flak from Tea Party Republicans, whose support he hoped to woo in 2016, he dropped his support in favor of his own bill.
Immigration reform's not the only issue on which Rubio has pulled a 180. As speaker of the Florida House, he proposed that Florida lead the way in responding to the threat of global warming. Once elected to the U.S. Senate, he started singing a different song. He now rejects policies to limit greenhouse emissions as "devastating" to the economy, and even denies man's role in creating the problem. He told ABC News in May 2014: "I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it."
On gay rights, too, Rubio represents the past, not the future. "I believe marriage is between one man and one woman. That's what it's been for thousands of years and it's served our people well," he told Univision's Jorge Ramos. Which puts Rubio squarely on the side of Americans over 65, the bare majority of whom, according to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, oppose same-sex marriage -- and totally against the 74 percent of Americans aged 18 to 34, who support it.
There's not even anything new about Rubio's campaign slogan. He's marching under the banner of a "New American Century," even though we're already 15 years into it. But, for many, the phrase itself evokes unfortunate association with the "Project for the New American Century," launched by Bill Kristol, publisher of The Weekly Standard, and other neocons in 1997 to promote regime change in Iraq. Again, identifying with the architects of the Iraq War is hardly a new, or smart, idea for someone running for president in 2016.
Yes, the idea of a new face with new ideas is appealing. But Rubio's not the one to fill the bill. He's only 43, but he preaches the politics and policies of the past. After five years in the Senate, he's still best known for lunging after a water bottle in the middle of his response to President Obama's 2013 State of the Union address.
Rubio should think twice about giving up his Senate seat in order to run for president. Big mistake. He'd be smarter to hold on to his day job -- and wait for 2020 or 2024.
Bill Press is a syndicated columnist, author and host of a nationally-syndicated radio show. He can be reached by email at bill@billpress.com.
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