lunes, 11 de junio de 2012

Rubio, el game-changer



Joseph Curl, columnista de The Washington Times, vinculado también a Drudge Report, que tiene buena sintonía con Boston, apuesta por Marco Rubio para Vicepresidente:

Paul Ryan. Rob Portman. Tim Pawlenty. Bob McDonnell. Mitch Daniels. Even their names are boring. Sure, they’re all highly qualified public servants — governors, senators, congressmen — but they are also borrrrrring.

Now, say this name out loud: Marco Rubio (and make sure you employ that alveolar trill on those R’s). Kinda rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? And you know what else has a nice ring? Romney-Rubio.

(...) Make no mistake: Mr. Rubio is no Sarah Palin. Admired by foreign-policy stalwarts in the Senate such as Joe Lieberman and John Kerry, the new senator has already traveled the world, stopping in Madrid to talk with Spain’s prime minister (in Spanish), and hitting Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malta, Libya, Haiti and Colombia, to name a few.

What would a Hispanic vice presidential candidate bring to Mr. Romney? There are now 50 million Hispanics in America, making up 16.3 percent of the population (blacks make up 12.6 percent). And aside from his home state of Florida, which is 22.5 percent Hispanic, Mr. Rubio could help in battleground states like Nevada (26.5 percent), Colorado (20.7 percent), North Carolina (8.4 percent) and Virginia (7.9 percent).

(...) Unemployment among Hispanics rose from 10.2 percent in April to 11 percent in May. Mr. Obama’s administration has been responsible for a record number of deportations of illegal immigrants, and has made no headway on an immigration policy. With few accomplishments to woo Hispanics, Mr. Obama has opened the door for the population to take a look at the alternative.

(...) And the White House is scared. Mr. Obama’s top political strategist said Mr. Romney’s selection of Mr. Rubio would be an “insult” to Hispanics. Over the weekend, the Obama campaign released new ads in Spanish targeting Hispanics in key state.

Also over the weekend, at a conservative conference in Chicago, Mr. Rubio beat other veep contenders by more than 2 to 1. Mr. Portman, the conventional-wisdom pick, got less than 2 percent of the vote.

Sure, those “boring white guys” are all good alternatives: safe, conservative, pre-vetted, budget-oriented, even wonkish. They could help in swing states like Ohio and Virginia. And they all would adhere to the top rule of picking a running mate: “First, do no harm.”

But Mr. Rubio is a game-changer. While many political pundits think 2012 is the Year of the Woman, it is actually Hispanics who will decide the election. And a rising young Cuban politician with a golden touch might just give them reason to rise up and roar.

2 comentarios:

Pedrito de Andía dijo...

De los que suenan, mis favoritos son Marco Rubio y Bobby Jindal. (Digo de los que suenan porque, en abstracto, me habría encantado ver a Santorum o a Huckabee, pero lo doy por imposible).

Antxon G. dijo...

Bueno, de los últimos, Palin, Cheney, Kemp, Quayle, ninguno de ellos sonaba demasiado, alguno nada, meses o semanas antes de ser seleccionado. Así que puede haber sorpresas. Siempre hay alguno que nadie sabe y que suele meterse en la lista de finalistas. Por ejemplo Obama hace cuatro años recuerdo que incluyó al Congresista Chet Edwards, de Texas, en la lista final, y nadie sabía nada.

Aunque Santorum y Huckabee no creo que entren. Santorum con sus frikadas sería un problema, una distracción, más que otra cosa, teniendo en cuenta dónde está la campaña ahora mismo.

La opción sorpresa podría ser Cathy McMorris Rodgers, que hace unos días la campaña la nombró su enlace con el Congreso, y que algunos interpretan que fue más bien para hacer que se hablara de ella.