I have been reading so much lately about income inequality in the United States, how poor young people of color are doomed to unemployment or french frying at best, and if kids don’t hear 30 million words by the time they are three their opportunity to thrive is all but dead.
The do-gooders want to remedy matters with tuition waivers and government assistance and a variety of other schemes.
I’ll admit it, the game is rigged for so many people in our country.
And then there is Marco Rubio running for President, and he might just win.
His future didn’t look so hot when he was born. Mom was a hotel maid, Dad was a bartender. They were immigrants from Cuba living in Miami. They came to America with nothing, worked hard and still didn’t exactly accumulate wealth. Marco Rubio, however, bought into the American Dream. Ambition, drive, chutzpah, the “I’m getting somewhere in my life” passion, set him apart.
He was a good enough athlete to get a football scholarship to an unknown Christian college, Tarkio, in Tarkio, Missouri, which went out of business soon after he arrived. He bounced back to a junior college in Florida, graduated from the University of Florida, and then picked up a law degree from the University of Miami. He accumulated $100,000 in student loan debt in the process.
He talked his way into internships with prominent Miami area politicians and started to learn the game. He ran for city commissioner in West Miami and began to catch on to the nuts and bolts of running local government and getting elected.
He honed his speaking talent and got to know the important players in Miami and the state of Florida. Jeb Bush became his mentor and helped grease the way for the ardent Marco to become known as a comer in politics. If you are a politician it never hurts to have a beautiful wife. Super Marco married a Miami Dolphins cheerleader and they have four children today.
Marco’s ascent to prominence is not unlike Barack Obama’s in Illinois. A shrewd assessment of the opportunities, taking advantage of weak opponents, the ability to attract influential friends and donors, and develop the persona of a leader are attributes of both men.
I have heard Rubio speak and have been impressed by his ability and appearance of conviction and sincerity.
I love his personal story. His conservative politics are interesting though he has vacillated on immigration reform.
His feelings about restructuring college debt reflect his own difficulty dealing with debt overhang.
I don’t know if Marco Rubio will be a legit Presidential candidate, but I like his bio and many of his policies. He speaks perfect Spanish too, which can’t hurt.
America somehow keeps coming up with intriguing self made people who defy the negativity of their background and society’s downcast view.
It’s enough to give me hope in this election.
Question: Does a candidate’s biography influence your vote?
11 Comments
I agree that he has many of the qualities that our president needs but will he be able to break gridlock in Congress. Out main problems are not who is president but constant campaigning of our senators and house representatives. Where are terms limits.
Unfortunately Rubio has a 1950’s blinders view of Cuba.
Josh, please explain?
Maybe Rubio has first hand knowledge of what Castro has done to Cuba. Europe and Canada have been trading with Cuba for decades and Fidel Castro has not changed his oppressive communist system. What makes you think opening the door to the US $ will make a difference?
I doubt he will win. Not awesome enough.
Big difference between Marco Rubio and President Obamas friends.
Please understand that I am an independent.
The irony is, he accumulated $100,000 in student loan debt and then improved his situation by with ambition, drive, chutzpah, passion and BY WORKING FOR THE GOVERNMENT. When operating well, our government should facilitate opportunity for education. We all benefit by having an educated society. Obama, Paul Ryan and Rubio all benefitted from such. Now that Ryan and Rubio have theirs, it’s not a priority.
Elizabeth Warren is right on this issue. Why should we loan banks money at minimal interest and charge students 5-6% interest? Banks and colleges get fat while we burden our young with debt.
We need candidates who will fix govenment, not dismantle it. We need to invest in infrastructure and technology rather than make weapons manufacturers richer. Wars are expensive and we’ve been putting them on the national credit card to the benefit of a select few.
Simplify the tax code. Eliminate offshore tax havens which encourage companies to use American infrastucture and markets to make fortunes without paying taxes which maintain that infrastucture.
I’m 46 years old, and I can’t remember EVER seeing a politician (in my lifetime) who was worried about education or the hard-working “little guy”.
What ever happened to guys like FDR and JFK? They really cared about people.
Our government is a JOKE these days.
I’m on the side of the fence that we need to dismantle the federal government down to the core. And a candidates bio. Should not be a hindering factor. After all, most of our founding fathers were criminals . We cannot as a somewhat prosperous society allow the government to stay on this path. All too often the arguably best candidate is chewed up and spit out by the political machine. God Bless
Election night, finding myself devastated by Romney’s loss to Obama, I quickly looked to the future to find some hope. I knew then that America had just wasted four more years. The next day I locked on to Marco Rubio and I’ve kept an eye on him ever since. He’s the real deal. Unlike what we’ve experienced as of late, Marco Rubio is a true leader and will unite the people of this country.
Keep an eye on this guy. You don’t necessarily have to be a small government conservative to like what you hear. You don’t even have to be the type that spends time pondering the principles that allowed this country to achieve all that it has. Either way, you’ll be drawn into the truth of his message.
I too look for congressional term limits, but don’t kid yourself, it is the president’s leadership that pulls people together to solve problems. Marco Rubio will not only deliver the needed leadership but he will put forth correct policies as well. His policies will be founded in the knowledge of those principles that made this country great.
Look to that “shining city upon a hill” – it’s soon to shine bright once again!
Government bailouts of colleges that now all charge exorbitant tuition fees is exactly what the Government is doing with Obamace, by bailing out insurance companies through subsidies of premiums and pharmaceutical companies by guaranteeing no price regulations. The reason tuition has skyrocketed is students are able to take out huge Federal government loans and grants. There is no incentive for colleges to reduced tuition, since they are collecting what they charge. If student loan were difficultto get and in amounts far below what these colleges and universities charge, the free market would prevail and educations costs would have to drop. And a polician’s background does influence my decision as long as they appear to have learned lessons from it.
I do think the backstory on a candidate has some bearing on my decision making. I wound up voting against Romney because I couldn’t see him improving anything. I have a big problem with Bankers running the country. Not that I had a lot of hope for Obama, but I thought he would do better than he has. Bottom line, the last 2 presidents haven’t done much to steer the country into a more modern era. They’ve exhibited a dearth of leadership on reforming the things that have obviously broken in government.
The Citizen’s United decision injected a corrupting amount of money into the system. The lack of term limits and the money in the system doom ANY candidate. I like Rubio better than anyone else out there. I’m an Independent, but I lean Republican. I just don’t do the far right dance. I can think for myself, keep your religion out of my Government.
We need a major change, I just don’t see anyone accomplishing it with the political situation in government. Everyone is constantly running for re-election. Until we limit terms, and take big corporate money out of this, we’re all wasting a vote, no matter who we waste it on.
If the election was today, I’d vote for Rubio with a heavy heart, knowing he was about to get ground into dust by the machine. Just like the last guy. We need a youthful, forward thinking President. It just won’t matter until we kill the corruption.