Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has vaulted to the top tier of the GOP presidential field in part because of his remarkable personal story and the desire of many Republicans to blunt specious claims of bigotry against their party.
To the Republican operatives and rank-and-file primary voters he has attracted, Rubio's candidacy "seems to affirm the idea that in a free market, anyone can rise without the benefit of connections or wealth," according to
The New York Times.
"That he did so as the child of Latin American parents who fled an autocratic government and toiled in the humblest of jobs — maid and bartender — has sent some Republicans swooning."
The "identity politics people" in the party "want a champion who looks like him to mitigate accusations of racism," said
Ben Domenech, a conservative writer. "And the classical conservatives look at him and say, 'this is somebody who can sell our ideas to the public.' "
Rubio disagrees with the premise that he is attempting to make history by becoming the Republican Party's first minority presidential nominee.
"The presidency is too important to say we're going to share it among ethnicities," he said.
Instead of chiding Americans who express concern about Hispanic assimilation in the United States, Rubio largely agrees with them.
At a candidate forum in New Hampshire last month, a woman pointed to bilingual store signs and automated telephone lines to make the point that too many immigrants were not learning English.
"Well, here's the bottom line," Rubio replied. "If you don't speak English, you're not going to prosper economically in America."
At a recent gathering in Iowa, Rubio recounted promising his dying grandfather in Spanish that he would study hard.
Rubio told the story in English, whereupon a questioner demanded to know if he was comfortable speaking Spanish while campaigning.
Rubio, the Times said, "seemed to grow momentarily defensive."
"Sure," he replied, adding that "I don't want to make Spanish illegal."
Rubio continued, "I'm ultimately saying that you have to have a unifying language where your schools are taught, what your laws are written in and how others communicate with each other."
Every nation, he said, "needs a unifying language; our unifying language is English."
Rubio "does not entirely avoid speaking Spanish," the Times reported. "He frequently gives interviews to Spanish-language journalists, especially in Florida."
When he announced for president in Miami last month, Rubio
shared a saying from his late father in Spanish, translated: "In this country, you will achieve all the things we never could."
But the senator "is careful" about "discussing his dual identity," according to the Times.
Shortly after entering the presidential race last month, Rubio's campaign released a video showing him responding to a question about his nationality.
"I'm an American — of Hispanic descent," he said.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, by contrast, "is not so torn" according to the Times.
Bush "delights in opportunities to demonstrate his fluent Spanish," the paper reported, and while campaigning last week in Puerto Rico, he told voters: "I know the power of the immigrant experience because I live it each and every day."
Bush's wife is Mexican and he makes frequent references to their "bicultural" children.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.