The GOP's Rubio dilemma
The Republican presidential field is debating whether Obama knows what he's doing — and whether Rubio does either
Marco Rubio suffered a massively deflating fifth-place finish in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. And he's owning it, telling his supporters that "our disappointment tonight is not on you, it's on me." He further vowed, "Listen to this: That will never happen again. That will never happen again."
"That," of course, refers to Rubio's bafflingly repetitive claims about Barack Obama in the last big debate before this crucial primary.
What was up with that?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Rubio might have panicked under Chris Christie's harsh interrogation (which didn't seem to do the New Jersey governor any favors either). But the line of criticism Rubio was advancing wasn't random or accidental. It actually gets to two important debates within the Republican Party.
You could say Rubio knew what he was doing.
First, there has been an argument among conservatives since at least the beginning of the Obama administration whether what they perceive as the president's bad policies stem from incompetence or a deliberate desire to transform — some would say destroy — America.
Rubio is squarely in the Obama-is-transforming-America camp. In this telling, the president subscribes to a form of liberalism that rejects American exceptionalism. He is more comfortable and ideologically congenial with the social democratic traditions of some of our European allies, as well as their more secular cultures. Conservatives who interpret Obama's motives in this way say he wants America to be more like Europe.
As a standard part of his campaign stump speech, Rubio says that Obama's foreign policy is driven in part by his view of America as an "arrogant empire" that needs to be taken down a peg. Like Mitt Romney, he worries that Obama is too eager to apologize for the country's real and imagined sins.
Lots of other conservatives believe this too, which is why Rush Limbaugh and others defended Rubio's debate line (which may have delayed the candidate's realization of how bad that part of the debate was for him).
So that's one part of this dust-up. But it's not the most important part.
Michael Dukakis unsuccessfully argued that the 1988 presidential election should be about competence, not ideology. While it's hardly a foregone conclusion that he would have won an election based on competence, he definitely lost one that partly became a referendum on his ideological views.
The 2016 Republicans are repeating Dukakis' argument among themselves. Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Christie all staked their presidential bids on their executive experience — Trump in business, the rest in state governorships. Their managerial ability, they have claimed, is what would make them a better president than Obama and a better president than the senators they are running against.
Rubio has been particularly tied to Obama in terms of management experience, because they were both eloquent freshman senators who appealed to their respective parties' voters through their oratorical skills and personal magnetism. But in both cases, it could be argued that they climbed the ladder to progressively more important political positions without spending very long in any of them.
Both Cruz and Rubio are running on ideology more than management skills, but the Obama comparison has made it especially important for Rubio to rebut this criticism. Consequently, he argues that Obama is a bad president because he believes in a bad ideology, not because he was elected as a freshman senator. Rubio would be a good president despite being a freshman senator precisely because he believes in a good ideology.
These arguments are all somewhat self-serving. Naturally, politicians like any job applicants want to say the top lines on their resume are the most important qualifications. A highly competent executive whose ideology led him to regularly pursue policies that didn't work would fail; an incompetent executive would probably make a bad president even if he or she had some great policy ideas.
In a real sense, the Republican presidential field is debating whether Obama knows what he's doing — and whether Rubio does either.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.
-
The Week Unwrapped: Derelict homes, Welsh mines, and vinyl
Podcast What can we do about abandoned property? Are old mines still doing us harm? And what do LP sales tell us about the economy?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Dresden: on the trail of a Romantic icon in Germany
the week recommends The Saxon city celebrates the 250th birthday of Caspar David Friedrich this year
By The Week UK Published
-
5 tremendously trending cartoons on the TikTok showdown
Cartoons Artists take on Chinese influence, privacy concerns, and more
By The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Xi-Biden meeting: what's in it for both leaders?
Today's Big Question Two superpowers seek to stabilise relations amid global turmoil but core issues of security, trade and Taiwan remain
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Will North Korea take advantage of Israel-Hamas conflict?
Today's Big Question Pyongyang's ties with Russia are 'growing and dangerous' amid reports it sent weapons to Gaza
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published