Ira Stoll on Marco Rubio's Mixed Record
As a political talent, the newest official entry in the Republican race, Marco Rubio, has a lot going for him. The son of a maid and an immigrant bartender from Cuba, Rubio is young (43), handsome, and a great public speaker. He is good—really good—at articulating two ideas: first, that America is and should be a land of upward mobility and opportunity and economic growth, and second, that America has a responsibility to promote and defend freedom around the world. Don't underestimate the power of those ideas: they helped propel both John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan to the presidency.
But the Rubio candidacy is not without formidable risks, as well, and at the risk of raining on opening day, Ira Stoll is going to dwell on some of them in his latest column, on the theory that it's better to know about these risks up front, when someone is running for president, than to discover them only after an election.