Monday, February 13, 2012

And God Bless Marco Rubio

There’s a good reason why a lot of conservatives want Marco Rubio to enter the presidential Republican primaries, and why he is an almost universal choice for the second spot among the same people. He’s young. He’s dynamic. His conservative credentials are excellent. He appeals to people of almost every ethnic group. But most of all, he says what he means, clearly, concisely and without unnecessary nuance.

Recently, Rubio addressed America’s unnecessary energy problems. “In the meantime, why would we tie our own hands behind our back if we are competing with other economies? You know, the Chinese will drill a hole anywhere they can get their hands on.” Lest the wind Nazis, solar fascists and ecoweenies jump on that statement, he added: “Now I’m not saying we have to be like them, but I am saying that we’re an energy rich country and conservatism, which is grounded in common sense says that if you’re an energy rich country you need to use the energy that God has blessed your nation with.”

Now there’s an energy policy I can get behind. I don’t need a sixty page exposition and a five-year, five hundred page environmental impact report to understand what the Senator is saying, let alone what he means. We are supporting Middle East and South American oppressive regimes by purchasing oil that we could produce ourselves. Onshore, offshore, and just about everywhere, we have coal, oil and natural gas reserves that could make us energy-independent in a very short period of time historically. We don’t even have to get into the nuclear power debate with this many natural resources available to us, and in addition we have huge hydroelectric potential.

So, as the Senator says, why don’t we use it? “We can have clean air and we can have clean water, but we also can have some sanity.” For this reason, Rubio says it must be a basic conservative principle that America needs regulatory reform—now. And he nails his position down succinctly by comparing it to that of the Obama administration. “They don’t have an energy policy, but rather they have ‘energy politics.’ ”

Never was a truer word spoken. While this administration threw millions of taxpayer dollars at pie-in-the-sky Solyndra, it also nixed the Keystone XL pipeline which would have required no taxpayer funding and would have produced an estimated 20,000 American jobs almost immediately. Imagine the benefit of producing that Keystone oil ourselves without even the need for the Trans-Canadian pipeline. "Made In America" is still the best energy policy available.

Note: I will be making the long trek into civilization for an overdue doctor's appointment in the afternoon. I expect to be back fairly late, since they're predicting rain in the lowlands and snow up by my abode. So if I'm late getting to your comments, I hope you'll forgive me. I'll get to them as soon as I get home. Kitty Kelly offered to take over my duties, but she had that gleam in her eye that made me decline her offer.

21 comments:

Tennessee Jed said...

well, Hawk - good luck at the Doc. I agree with your post, though. Rubio was the guy I wanted to run from the get go. I saw a blow out of epic preportions (at least Reagamnesque>)

AndrewPrice said...

Rubio would have been a great candidate. I saw that he won the straw poll at CPAC for the choice of VP, even though he says he won't accept the spot.

BevfromNYC said...

I agree with you. He is a good speaker, a good thinker, and a real conservative. BUT I still think he is too young and unseasoned. He needs a few more years on the national stage before he will be ripe. He is even better because HE knows he is not ready yet.

rlaWTX said...

It's enough to give a person hope for the conservative future...

Tennessee Jed said...

Interestingly, Rubio is not that much younger than JFK when he ran. He has been in politics for over a decade, and served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. He has more real experience that Barrack Obama. That is an argument I am loathe to make, however since I like to attack Obama's experience.

However, I am coming around to the notion of POTUS as being, first and foremost, a leader. You can have good advisors staff you to get up to speed on the nitty gritty of issues. But you have to have a vision, and be able to pursuade people in that it is vision worth getting behind. I think the sun shines on his face. Put another way, I am not convinced that Marco Rubio would be a lesser president than any of the others running including (most of all) the incumbant. Alas, he is not running, so that is that.

tryanmax said...

While I admire the humility manifest in Rubio's declination, I am inclined to suggest that it is not the virtue presently called of him. But if he does not see that himself, then perhaps that makes him right.

T-Rav said...

The only reason I was against Rubio running this time was because he'd just reached the national scene, and I feel we need a guy with at least some experience at the federal or gubernatorial level. Then again, we did say we could run a ham sandwich against Obama, so....

darski said...

Call me a birther but there is no way he can qualify. Sorry folks.

But then youse guys aren't using that constitution thingy anyway... carry on.

Unknown said...

Tennessee: I'd vote for him in a hot Caliente minute. He stuck to his laurels about not running for president, but if it looks like he would make the difference in the general election, he might be willing to do it.

Unknown said...

Andrew: Rubio is a man of his word, so he might not accept the VP slot. On the other hand, he is also a man of strong moral principle and loves this country deeply. If he could be persuaded that he was utterly necessary for a Republican victory, he might be persuaded to change his mind.

Unknown said...

Bev: I would tend to agree with you if he were running for the top spot. But a president who actively uses his veep is also training him to run on his own at a later time. Unless he were to run for governor of Florida, I don't know where else he might get the executive experience. He's certainly young enough to take either route.

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: It is, isn't it?

Unknown said...

Tennessee: I agree, up to a point. I have often wondered whether there would have been a Bay of Pigs disaster if Kennedy had had more experience in an executive position where you learn to sort out who's telling you the truth, who's telling you what you want to hear, and who's telling you something which could have really bad consequences. But that's all speculation.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: There really is a difference between humility and false humility. I have never had the idea that Rubio is playing reluctant virgin. I still think he might change his mind about the second spot, however. Right now, it isn't patently clear who the final candidate for the top spot will be, though we can guess. Then the question becomes "would Rubio make the difference?" If he could be convinced that he would make that difference, he would have every reason to accept the V.P. nomination without any embarrassment about earlier saying that he would not run.

Unknown said...

T-Rav: If you go back and look at a couple of my articles and comments, you'll see that I have never said Obama would be a pushover, and I kept cautioning people about overconfidence. I think this will be a very close race, and if Rubio as V.P. would make the difference, I hope he'll abandon his position on not running. I do think he might be too unseasoned in executive government for the top spot, but he couldn't do worse than Obama if he tried.

Unknown said...

darski: I wouldn't call you a birther, but I do think Rubio's status as a natural born citizen is far clearer than that of the Kenya Kid.

tryanmax said...

LawHawk, I don't mean to accuse Rubio of insincerity or playing games. I just mean that there is no set hierarchy of virtues, and part of maturity is knowing how to arrange them according to the situation.

I think Rubio could be a great leader right now, but even the best has room for refinement. Even thought I can't name another politician with the skill I note Rubio is lacking, perhaps what holds him back now will be what makes him better later.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: And I agree with you. I think Rubio showed a lot of wisdom and maturity in refusing to run when there was such a big movement to get him to do so. Now whether that same rule of thumb holds true about the second spot remains to be seen. Where I think he would have been premature running for president, running for vice president seems a very reasonable thing to do if: 1. It will push the Republican presidential candidate over the top, and 2. If Rubio himself feels that he could dedicate himself fully to the campaign.

If he determines that he would still be serving the American people better in the Senate than as vice president, I would respect that and count it as maturity. But I would be disappointed.

T-Rav said...

LawHawk, "overconfident" is not how I would describe my feelings about November. But otherwise, I agree with you in all respects.

Unknown said...

T-Rav: We are going to have to work, hard, right up to election day. Republicans must be united, and the infighting over who's more conservative than who must end the moment a Republican candidate is nominated. The Democrats will be putting everything they have into re-taking the House and re-electing their messiah. We must convince the public that it is not only wise, but absolutely necessary to forget the old adage about not changing horses in the middle of the stream. If we don't change horses, we drown.

Individualist said...

Lawhawk

Rubio is a good choice among conservatives. IF we were like the democratic party we would have roped him into running in this election despite the lack of political experience just as they did with Barack Obama.

We are not so we tend to want to stick with names that we have heard before. People we have known for a while. The people that try to be the JFK of the GOP like Michelle Bachman find out that conservatives want more than platitudes. We like substance of style.

Given that the electorate has probably an average 6th grade reading level, I am not so sure that this is a good strategy. On top of all that the older the conservative the more opportunity to have been poisoned by the well of big government and the more the snout of the elephant resembles a RINO's horn.

I think the conservative movement could stand to make the mistake or two of electing the intemparent youtrh to office. After all, there really is no such thing as cutting away to much government in my estimation.

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