FRIENDLY FIRE - Mitt Romney's tease about giving Marco Rubio a complete vetting is cynical racial politics. He had not publically ruled out or in any candidate for his VP, but when a leak intimated that Rubio was not being considered, Romney had to act.
Having, as usual, straddled every possible position on President Obama's modified, executive version of the Dream Act, he could not further alienate Hispanics by failing to consider the most popular conservative Hispanic in sight.
He was quick with his response and it was pandering--it was also an act.
Marco Rubio is not being considered for the VP position. Although he is a future star--even a super star, if some troubling resume problems don't sink him, this is not his time, and Romney is not going to pick him.
Having watched John McCain leap off the cliff in selecting a charismatic energizer of the conservative base, Romney will not make the same mistake.
Sarah Palin destroyed McCain's most powerful argument against Obama--that Obama, with his paucity of experience, just wasn't ready.
Having Palin one heartbeat away from the presidency of a relatively old man with a history of cancer destroyed a major talking point.
Romney cannot say his prime criterion is for his VP selection to be ready to be president on the first day needed and then pick another first term senator.
He is also unlikely to want someone more charismatic than he (which really narrows the field amongst actually living politicians).
While teasing at considering Rubio was a sop to Hispanics and may carry him through an upcoming speech, Rubio will have to wait.
This particular version of sectarian racial politics is not a major sin; it is just normal, naked and cynical politics and will neither help nor hurt Romney--except to the extent that it plays into the narrative that there is nothing very genuine at his core.
(Jonathan Dobrer is an op-ed contributor to the Daily News and Friendly Fire and is a syndicated columnist. This column was posted first at Friendly Fire. More on Jonathan and his books at www.Dobrer.com) –cw
Tags: Jonathan Dobrer, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, Vice President, Sarah Palin, President Obama, politics, national election, November election
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 51
Pub: June 26, 2012
