Failed savior

Tuesday Night / February 12 /11:36 p.m. – Marco Rubio peaked as a politician seconds before he delivered his response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union tonight. After being called the “Savior” of the Republican Party by Time Magazine and hailed by the media and members of his Party as the new and redeeming face of the GOP days and moments leading up to his speech, when it counted, Rubio laid an egg on national television.

The fact is the most memorable moment of his response may have been when, towards the end of his speech, he reached over awkwardly and retrieved a bottle of water to wet his lips – momentarily stepping out of camera sight. Before that instant, one could tell nerves had Rubio dealing with parched lips throughout his brief interlude. And at times he even swatted at something bothering him while rubbing the side of his face. It was reminiscent of a person dealing with a pesky fly while giving a high school baccalaureate speech.

In other words, Rubio was horrible.

And on the matter of his speech, has no one informed the junior senator from Florida that the election has been over for months? Rubio seemed outdated with his comments. He seemed to debate the president on themes and arguments used by Mitt Romney during his failed presidential bid in 2012. Issues resoundingly rebuked by the American public just months before.

Finally, during his roughly 10-minute speech, Rubio demonstrated how he is able to stand on both sides of any issue, as he is apt to do, when he praised Medicare and the benefits it offered both his mother and father. But just seconds later he criticized the president’s desire to try to save the same program he claims has been so beneficial to his parents.

Great men and women, and especially politicians who have impacted history, have a way of stepping up when the moment presents itself. In the case of Marco Rubio, the failed savior of the Republican Party managed to step down.

Alvaro F. Fernandez