Marco Rubio: Backseat Driver
January 7, 2010 at 7:25 am 8 comments
Political Columnist
Wordpress
Former speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio has had it easy since the onset of his national bid to run for the United States Senate. Mr. Rubio, who does not currently hold public office, is challenging Florida Governor Charlie Crist for the Republican Party’s U.S Senate nomination in a bitter fight. Labeled as a staunch conservative, Rubio has not only enjoyed the support of hard-line Republican Party conservatives, but he has also drawn support from the newly founded Tea Party, “a small, but vocal group,” as described by departing Florida Republican Party Chair, Jim Greer.
By almost any measure, Rubio has the advantage and he is in the perfect position to win the fight for the Republican nomination. Since Rubio no longer holds public office, he has not had to make critical public policy decisions or vote on the recent and largest tax-fee increase Florida has seen for decades, if not history, in order to balance its budget. Furthermore, unlike Gov. Crist, he is not in the driver’s seat when it comes to steering Florida’s veering economy to safety, but rather enjoys the thrill from the backseat.
He has the privilege of hindsight and the coveted ability, in the absence of a public position, to pick and choose his battles. This, my friends, is candidate utopia.
Without an active policy record for supporters and critics alike to scrutinize, Rubio must be feeling euphoric – especially in light of the passage of economic stimulus package. Crist, who welcomed the stimulus package, has received much criticism from Rubio and Republican Party activists for his “embrace” of the Obama-initiated stimulus. However, Mr. Rubio has not equally admonished his former legislative colleagues for accepting and delegating stimulus funds, neither has he criticized the Republican controlled legislature for balancing its budget with a combination of stimulus funds and a large tax increase. Rather, he has taken this political opportunity to figuratively drive from the rear – “Charlie, I think you should have made a left on Campaign Drive and a right on Stimulus Road. Not the other way around.”
To Mr. Rubio’s dismay, he may not have realized that “Chain Gang Charlie” has not yet begun to fight, much less campaign. And though Mr. Rubio may be familiar with Crist’s accomplishments, legislative record and Greek background, preparing for the upcoming nine month spar with the former legislator, turned attorney general and now governor, will be much tougher than the political playing field is letting on. Once Crist steps up his campaign, Rubio will know more about Greek history than he wants to know – particularly, about Greek Mythology and the story of Achilles.
Contrary to popular belief Mr. Rubio is not an authentic conservative and on the issue of immigration, Rubio’s Achilles heel, he falls flat. Given his former position as Speaker of the House, he was the legislator-in-chief, Florida’s state version of the position held by former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
In this leadership position, Rubio was unable to pass any significant legislation that did anything to protect Floridians against being exploited and undercut by illegal labor. Not even the Enforcement of Immigration Laws bill introduced in the 2007 Regular Session by Representative Adams passed, but died in the Safety and Security Council. Many bills sponsored by Representative Kravitz, such as the Illegal Aliens bill (HB 1085) which was supposed to require law enforcement officers, sheriffs, chief correctional officers, and circuit court clerks to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement of suspected illegal aliens who are arrested, detained, or convicted of felonies, all met the same fate in the Safety and Security Council – how ironic.
Rubio has not done a fifth of what Newt was able to in 1994, which was to effectively navigate the bills the American people support. Over two-thirds of Floridians support immigration reform and an even larger majority would like to see our current immigration laws enforced.
Rubio has failed conservatives, republicans, independents and even democrats on the immigration issue. He did not use the impetus generated from the failing Florida economy that was apparent in 2007, nor did he capitalize on the immigration debate that was taking place nationally. Can we expect Rubio, U.S Senator Rubio to do the will of the people when he is in Washington?
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1.
Mr.Conservative. | January 10, 2010 at 5:51 am
Give me a break… Marco Rubio has always been tough on illegal immigration. Those bills that you talk about never made the floor. And now that Marco is not even the speaker anymore it’s still not passed. Rubio was working hard to get rid of our property tax wich by the way… Marco rubio was fighting Crist’s plan of the property tax. And Rubio asked the house to come together and put all those bills into one so it could be past. They only had 60 day’s. It never made it to the floor! Know the facts. Dont spew lies.. Watch the interview. This was taken way back early last year…http://www.redcounty.com/crainterview-marco-rubio-illegal-immigration.
2.
keiron Jackman | January 10, 2010 at 11:48 am
Ok, immigration enforcement was and remains to be an issue with conservatives. In Mr. Rubio’s tenure, he has not been able to do anything about it. He is speaker of the house, which gives him power and a platform. He dictates which committees and councils his bills, if not all, pass through. He also has a hand in assigning which representatives serve in what committee. His job as speaker is to effectively or wisely position his colleagues in committees and such in order to get the peoples desires through. Immigration was an issue every one of the two years he was speaker and I am sure throughout his legislative experience. In the S FL illegal labor is a big problem and he could not get it through. In a legislature that passed seat belt law and a large tax increase I am sure he could have done a better job. That is my point either he is ineffective, when place in an effective position, or he did not want it done.
3.
Mr. South Broward | January 11, 2010 at 6:58 am
Good points Keiron. This election is not about electing Marco Rubio. Charlie Crist has been amassing millions of dollars to create an undertow that will suck Marco under in August. So far, Rubio is doing far better than he had ever hoped. But this election is not about electing Marco. It is about building a statewide organization that can be used when the opportunity is right, and it is about getting the Rubio name known in Republican top-heavy counties like Okaloosa and Duval, both hundreds of miles away from Rubio’s Dade County base. Perhaps the opportunity to use that organization and statewide name ID will come in 2012 against Bill Nelson. Perhaps the real fight will be against former US Senator George LeMieux in 2012 for the GOP nomination. Perhaps not. But unless fate smiles on Marco Rubio, this year’s election is not about winning the Senate in 2010.
4.
Blaine | March 29, 2010 at 1:36 am
Please, on the stimulus, the difference is Rubio would not have voted for the bill that was passed. He would have pushed for something with less government and more private sector growth. The bill that passed has been a failure, and will likely cause a double dip recession once the funding dries up, just like FDR’s spending in the Great Depression.
Meanwhile Charlie thought the bill was perfectly fine as is. And unlike all the people who took the money AFTER it was passed, Charlie held a rally to push for it BEFORE passage. That’s the key difference.
Rubio failed to get illegal immigration bills through. Ok, well, what has Charlie done? I haven’t heard him say one word about it before this debate.
5.
Mr. Central Florida | March 29, 2010 at 4:32 am
Immigration is a thorny issue for any conservative and even more for a Cuban descendant. It’s never a slam dunk like we wish it to be (see Mel Martinez). At the end of the day politicians still have to get elected and being too aggressive on illegal immigration can cost you votes in Florida. So cut Rubio a break on this. Marco’s value to conservatives is that he is steeped in the anti-socialist tradition as so many 1st & 2nd generation Cuban-Americans are. We value the American ideal and America’s history like no other hispanic group. We’ve been to this dance before and doesn’t turn out well. My sense of Rubio is that he is more of an American traditionalist than Mel was but just as commie-hating, which makes him a good ally against the left. Think about this: the future of the Republican party will someday depend on the ability of a Cuban-American to convince other hispanics that we speak from experience and they are on the wrong side of freedom. Or you can vote for a younger Arlen Spectre-like named Crist.
6.
Mr. South Broward | March 30, 2010 at 1:33 am
I understand the dismay of many Republicans with the stimulus legislation, but to say it is a failure . . . well, I suggest you ask some of the unemployed who got a job as a result of it. They might differ with you, and there have been more of them than you would believe. Florida was one of the last states to finally start getting the stimulus projects off the ground. As for Crist and Rubio, the debate the other night was only the beginning. Whether you like Crist or not, he is a very capable politician. As I noted earlier on this blog, this election isn’t about electing Marco. It is about getting a statewide organization in place for Marco’s next race.Then again, polls are a measure of success, and Rubio has been more successful than most would have ever dreamed. This will be a most promising year for the GOP.
7.
keiron Jackman | March 30, 2010 at 4:15 am
Nothing is perfect. It has done more good than bad. 87K jobs saved. I understand I am one who has not had full employment for a while now (how do you think i got time for this blog), I am looking to move north — so if anybody is upset about stimulus its me. But I understand that the stimulus cannot solve everything and it was not necessarily supposed to ease my pain, but rather to stem the job bleed and stabilize the economy, not really create an economy. Marco I am happy for the guy, but he has not put in the time or utilized his time in a manner that shows he’s about the people’s work. Plain and simple. I think as speaker of a house, from the position he was in he could have done more, not nothing.
If he were just a regular house representative, I would give him a slight break…but to whom much is given much is expected.
8.
Frank DeWitt | June 28, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Marco Rubio worked with Charlie Crist to enact a tax exemption scam which entirely left out the poor and poor senior people of Florida. While he said he was lowering taxes he in fact was only lowering the taxes of people in upper incomes. Under the new tax exemption you only get the full exemption if your apraised property value is above 75k and you get a prorated amount if the value is over 50k. You get nothing if your apraised value is under 50k. Put in prospective a 200k market valued home is tax apraised at about 52k so you see most poor and poor senior’s fall into less than 50k. These guys are both bad and if there is a third republican on the ballet that’s who is going to get my vote.