GOP Golden Boy Marco Rubio misses a Golden Opportunity

Arlette Saenz of ABC News reported in his article titled Rubio Comes Out Swinging at Obama at S.C. GOP Dinner reported that “Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., doled out attacks on President Obama tonight in a high-profile speech before South Carolina Republicans, laying out aggressive criticisms of the president as he called him the most "divisive figure" in American politics.  "The president and his party's view of America's government and our lives is a failed one. It hasn't worked. His ideas that sounded so good in the classrooms of Harvard and Yale haven't really worked out well in the real world."   But this is not the missed opportunity.

It is expected that Rubio speaking to his group and people would garner “applause at the South Carolina GOP's Silver Elephant Dinner.”  It would be news if he had not have spoken about President Obama in terms like  "they get frustrated. They can't win on their record, and so they've chosen to go down a different road, one that I think is destructive, counterproductive, and very unfortunate. "For all the policy disagreements that we may have with the president, it is hard to understate how much he inspired people across this country four years ago, with his promises to unite America and lift it up," Rubio said. "The man who today occupies the White House and is running for president is a very different person. We have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history as we have over the last three and a half years."  His missed opportunity came in the form of failing to use this time to shore up and reduce the chasm between the GOP and the women’s vote.  Here’s how he failed.

In his speech, it was reported that he constantly mentioned his father and the role that he played in giving him the opportunities that he did not have.  The article reports that Rubio “described the drive that Americans possess, calling the United States a nation of "go-getters" and sharing the story of his own father, who worked as a bartender as he struggled to provide a better future for his children.  Five decades ago, my dad worked on Saturday nights, too. Except his job was that of a bartender. He stood behind the bar night after night, not just five decades ago, but for decades, working hard on behalf of his family and his children," Rubio said.”  He did mention they in his speech saying "the very purpose of their lives was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could,” but went right back to "how come I have come to do things that he never did?”  He failed because he did not take any time to mention the role his mother played at all.  He failed because it was as if his father did it all and his mother really didn’t contribute at all. 

I believe that if he had given his mother equal time in the speech as he did his father, it may have struck and stuck with women in his party who can see themselves supporting him for any office he seeks but still feel a little left out because of the laws his fellow Republicans are pushing, his inability to step up and repudiate venomous language from those on the right and his refusal to say anything about the role of the most important women in his life in his speeches.  The GOP may believe that Rubio has a very bright future but until these admired leaders step up, you can safely bet and future will be greatly limited.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Determination of History to Repeat Itself is Due to our Cowardice to Stop It

The Sudden Concern about a Democracy in Decay

Know Yourself by Knowing Your Child