Rubio has become appealing to the Republican Party through his political views and way he presents himself. The 41 year old is conservative, yet his ideas do not overwhelm those not in the Republican Party. This article regards him as "the most gifted communicator in the party" and even compares his natural ability to that of Obama.
Recently, Rubio compromised on an immigration reform measure. This is greatly important to the future political prospects of the GOP and it gained him popularity within the party. He will replace John Boehner, former Speaker of the House, who constantly struggled and whose communication skills could not measure up to those of Obama.
Selecting Rubio to respond to the State of the Union demonstrates how the Republican Party recognizes him as an esteemed public speaker. Many will be watching the senator on Tuesday night as he makes his speech.
You can read more here.
2 comments:
This is interesting, because while Marco Rubio seems like the sort of Republican that the party needs if they want to keep up with the increase in minority voters, I wonder if he's being selected as a figurehead representing diversity in order to make the GOP look good, while he is in fact something of an outlier in the Republican ideology spectrum. I guess we'll have to wait ad see if more diverse, moderate Republicans come onto the scene in the future.
I remember being surprisingly impressed with Rubio's deliverance of his speech during the GOP National Convention last year--although it may simply have been an appeal to Hispanic voters, the Spanish phrases that he integrated into his speech was definitely memorable.
However, like Rachel mentioned, it's extremely likely that the Republican Party is merely trying to draw more media attention to Marco Rubio because of his ethnicity. Especially after many speculated (after the 2012 election) that the GOP will increasingly face hard times if they continue to alienate the Hispanic population, electing Rubio to deliver the response to the State of the Union address may be an attempt to gain more popularity with the Hispanic population. It worries me a little bit that both the party and the public are focusing on him more as an icon of diversity rather than identifying him with his ideological beliefs.
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