A stunning missed opportunity: Rubio's moment

The former presidential aide was suggestively prescient: "Forget the Obama speech. I can’t wait to see the Rubio thing."

What a disaster--the Rubio thing, not the Obama speech--compelling me to tweet only once last night: "Marco Rubio--sweating like Albert Brooks in 'Broadcast News.'" At least I think it was sweating, as indicated by weird nervous tics which appeared to be wiping, which, along with the athletic lunge for the water bottle, rendered Rubio's national debut into a cable-access pratfall.

I did see some of Obama's SOTU, which the NY Times nicely compressed as mostly "familiar" proposals that "will probably be snuffed out by politics," which of course they will. (On Fox News, for instance, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy instantly snuffed out one of the SOTU's rare semi-innovations, the minimum wage hike.) I know I'm too hard on this annual form of political ritualism; it is, after all, constitutionally required. But bless the Founders, watching it isn't. 

Of Rubio's response, however, I watched nearly all, captivated as I was by much more than its gymnastics. What really fascinated was its unrehabilitated hostility, its entrenched ignorance, its determined wreckage of any Republican resurrection. The Times' Andrew Rosenthal:

Both Mr. Rubio and Mr. Paul [in his tea party response] laced their remarks with the usual G.O.P. propaganda that Mr. Obama hates jobs, small businessmen and entrepreneurs. Judging from these two speeches, the Republicans don’t intend to respond constructively to Mr. Obama’s call for a new direction in Washington. And they don’t intend to move beyond their failed, 1980s-vintage economic policies.

In short, Sen. Rubio presented the Republican Party as a carcass. This was both expected and stunning at the same time. In his maiden 2016 presidential campaign speech, Rubio delivered a full-throated embrace of the party's 2012 base alone--an unmistakable sign that he sees no way out; that he sees himself stuck with a culturally receding, coalition bloc of twisted Randians and backward Christianists; that it's all over before it commences.

One would think that given this certainty of electoral doom--and Rubio's not stupid, he can add and he knows at least two colors, bright blue and fading red--almost any GOP aspirant would be laying the ideological groundwork for something different, something appealing, something of some electoral promise. If the election is otherwise lost before the serious campaigning starts, why bother? Yet with the highest stakes possible already out there, Rubio stayed pat with a conspicuously losing hand. And that was stunning.

Comments

[Peter G]

It certainly was stunning. I listened to the whole SOTU speech mostly with my eyes closed. I like to give some appreciation to both delivery as well as content. I disagree not at all with the many criticisms of the current manifestation of the SOTU. Last night, in a live blog covering the speech, I engaged another person who dismissed the whole thing as mawkish sentimentality. So it may be. So is almost all theater political or otherwise. But I beg to point out, as I did last night, that this is the preeminent presidential bully pulpit so beloved of those who think such things can trump legislative political maneuvering. This is the presidents premiere annual opportunity to speak on practically every channel to all Americans and others who wish to listen, directly and to the point. It is here that he can make populist appeals to issues like rational gun controls or other public policies and let everyone who watches see the support his ideas have through applause or the lack of it. And if nothing results then maybe people can see the true value of that esteemed bully pulpit.

[japa21]

Peter, I agree with you. I had expected a lot of blase, nice progressive sounding proposals, which were ther. And although PM post is about Rubio, it is important to put it in context with Obama's SOTU.

More than anything else, what Obama did was say, "Folks, all I am doing here is bringing forth fully realistic, positive proposals. Rational and with immediate and positive impact. If these things do not come about there is only one place to lay the blame: the GOP. Remember that when it comes time to vote in 2014."

I don't know if I remember a President in either the Inaugural Address or the SOTU being as explicit about the intransigence, and the danger of that intransigence, of the opposition. During campaigns, yes, but not at these times.

And just as importantly, he basically said, "I would rather the GOP agree to do some things, but if they don't I will use some of the powers I have to get things done. So don't come whining to me when I do."

And back to Rubio. I always thought that one of the problems with these response speechs (and I felt this way during GWB's reign of terror as well) is that they have to be written and presented without knowing precisely what the SOTU is going to say. As a result, they usually come off as petty and whining. I think that had a lot to do with Rubuio's presentation. He knew what he was saying wasn't a true response to what Obama had just said, and he knew that is exactly how it would come across. I would have been sweating if I had been in his shoes too.

[Robert Lipscomb]

@Peter G: Amen and amen.

I love performance art. Over the past 20 years, I have found it useful to look at some real life events as though it was performance art presented as actors. Look at your next family gathering through that lens, then recall the "Momma" sketches on Carol Burnet. Not much difference really.

Last night and its precessors are beautiful in that respect. The strained commity before and after the speech. The ritual standing ovation and ritual sittingare about as good of polling as you can get - and I find a lot of fun.

The bottom line on last night's performance is that four years and two elections in, Obama is now the "Big Dawg" in DC. He knows it, and he likes it.

Love it or hate it, Big Dawg has a Big Plan, and all the work together. He intends to execute as many elements of his plan as expieditiously as possible. He will be as relentless as grant going after Lee.

Then came Rubio yet another Great Brown Hope for the GOP future. His speech was obviously downloaded from a GOP web site that archives GOP political speeches. His delivery was a metaphor for the GOP which cannot deliver anything but farce.

The heart and soul of the GOP was represented in its rebuttal by Rand Paul ... on the internet ...from his father's basement? ... or so I hear.

Two thumbs up. Way UP!

[Grung_e_Gene]

But, he didn't use a teleprompter hyuk hyuk hyuk! Because only lame brain Obama! uses a teleprompter hyuk hyuk hyuk!