# Why isn't Marco Rubio considered a legitimate 2016 contender? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 20, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716 "2014-12-20T04:05:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/41 "2014-12-21T11:56:50Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t know if Congress does, but I do know that they can. This isn’t what you said. You said, “Not sure how he’d pay for its day-to-day operations though.” Obviously, it would be paid for out of existing State Department funding. Congress potentially passing legislation to bar such use of that money is a different topic. And unlikely, to boot. Many Republicans are just as tired of the embargo as many Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/42 "2014-12-21T12:13:50Z")
Another problem is that the President can’t get an ambassador approved. Also, at least according to CBS, in order to do anything beyond what the interest section does now, it would take new money from Congress. Plus they’ve got at least one Democrat: > **[Can Congress block Obama's efforts to normalize Cuba relations?](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-congress-block-obamas-efforts-to-normalize-cuba-relations/)** > > Lawmakers hold the key to lifting the full trade and travel bans, but many are pledging to fight him > [@](#): > > And the top Democrat, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, normally an ally of Mr. Obama, accused the president of trying to “circumvent the intent and spirit of U.S. law and the U.S. Congress.” Menendez has only just noticed that he does this? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/43 "2014-12-21T12:16:44Z")
On the good side, I’m gratified that the President realizes that he can’t repeal the trade embargo by executive order. Of course, he might pull a “prosecutorial discretion” and not stop companies from doing business with Cuba, which would pretty much once and for all establish us as a banana republic. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/44 "2014-12-21T13:15:56Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t think Rubio’s position on the embargo is going to be much of a problem. In that regard, Rubio holds more power than the President. I think the President’s actions here are foolish. He can’t open an embassy in Cuba or end the embargo without Congress. The embargo is established by several laws, most recently Helms-Burton and the Cuba Democracy Act. The President can “talk” to whoever he wants, but he can’t actually do anything substantial with Cuba without Congress’ consent. Why would the Republicans not go along with this, considering the polling about Cuba is pretty overwhelming? Why keep the same policy that’s done nothing but hurt the Cuban people for 50 years? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/45 "2014-12-21T13:19:08Z")
**adaher** , I don’t think you know what that term, “banana republic,” means. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/46 "2014-12-21T13:38:19Z")
When a President can just ignore duly enacted laws, what you have is a strongman. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/47 "2014-12-21T13:41:42Z")
Some Republicans, like Paul, already seem to be agreeing with the new Cuba policy. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/48 "2014-12-21T14:46:20Z")
The more libertarian-oriented ones have always opposed trade embargoes as a matter of principle. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/49 "2014-12-21T15:58:06Z")
FWIW, Rubio is priced at 7-1 to win the GOP nomination [at a major British gambling market](http://www.betfair.com/exchange/politics/market?id=1.107664938), behind only JEB who is the 3-1 favorite. Rand Paul is a close 3rd, followed by Romney and Walker. Ted Cruz is in 6th place at 19-1. The same site has Clinton at 4-9, and Elizabeth Warren at 8-1 to be the Demo nominee. Biden is a distant 3rd at about 22-1; Gillibrand is 4th at 40-1. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/50 "2014-12-21T15:58:56Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > I don’t see much in the way of major flaws with Rubio. He’s young, handsome, intelligent, understands the issues, has experience, comes from a Hispanic background, and comes from a critical swing state. > > With every other major Republican candidate, I can identify at least one major flaw. Rubio seems like a solid all-around choice. What am I missing that discounts him as a legitimate threat? Who says he’s not? I hear him listed with every mention of possible GOP candidates along with Cruz, Paul and Christie. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/51 "2014-12-21T20:14:16Z")
The short answer is that he is the epitome of dweebness. In more detail, his anti-Cuba schtick may have worked two decades ago, but not now. I’m not seeing what he brings to the table that others don’t have more of. He isn’t particularly articulate, he doesn’t seem that bright, he just sells Republican orthodoxy with a young Latin face. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/52 "2014-12-21T20:55:01Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Another problem is that the President can’t get an ambassador approved. This still isn’t what you said. You said, “Not sure how he’d pay for its day-to-day operations though.” Now you’re bringing up “another problem”, as though your first problem hasn’t been shown to be wrong. Now you seem to be pinning your hopes on Congress specifically limiting State Department funding for a U.S. embassy in Cuba, and on Congress refusing to confirm an ambassador to Cuba. Neither of these seem to me to be likely; all you have to do to tell that is to look at how many Republican Senators are reacting to this: many of them do not care. Many Democratic Representatives, many Republican Representatives, many Democratic Senators, many Republican Senators, and many of the constituents of all these members of Congress are reacting to this action with a general, “Meh. I guess it’s about time. Fuck it.” I see no chance for negative action on this from Congress. Certainly, for a full economic relationship, as opposed to a full diplomatic relationship, Congress must take affirmative action, and do some repealing. Since the President is authorized to allow certain exemptions to the economic laws, I would expect relatively quick action on this, so that the Republicans can stop what would be effectively monopolistic trade by people and companies favored by the President. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/53 "2014-12-21T21:41:20Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > the President causing a shutdown for Fidel Castro doesn’t sound too politically promising to me. A. This isn’t for Fidel :rolleyes: and B. It would be your guys causing the shutdown. But I think you know that, don’t you? > [@adaher](#): > > Another problem is that the President can’t get an ambassador approved. And whose fault would that be, hmm? :dubious: > [@adaher](#): > > Even three term Senators shouldn’t be President unless they have foreign policy experience or have been major leaders in getting things done, preferably outside of official leadership. Joe Biden would qualify even if he wasn’t VP. So would John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Ron Wyden. > … > We need someone with a proven record of competence, or at least courage to fight the bureaucry and/or work with the other side to get things done. John “Bomb, bomb Iran” McCain has sufficient foreign policy judgment to be President? Really? 😃 If you demand a record of experience and accomplishment getting things done, that rules out your entire party, doesn’t it? You continue to amaze. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/54 "2014-12-21T22:26:08Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Regarding Cuba, just because a second-term Democratic president wants to reset relations all of a sudden means Americans turn pro-Cuban? Just like we all turned pro-Russia in Obama’s first term?. Fifty plus years is “all of a sudden”? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/55 "2014-12-21T23:40:02Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > When a President can just ignore duly enacted laws, what you have is a strongman. He, like most presidents since early on, is not ignoring laws; he’s acting on advice of legal counsel, who interprets to what extent the President can act within those laws. His actions may be challenged in the courts as to whether they are contrary to the intent of the law, but for now he’s operating on firm ground. I would agree that it can be seen as bully tactics, but it’s generally designed (as has been said by the President) to get Congress to actually do its job. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/56 "2014-12-22T00:05:55Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > As to Rubio’s presidential prospects if all he’s got is the Cubans then all he’s got is South Florida. The _rest_ of the “Hispanic vote”, well, they are not all his natural constituency. “Hispanics” are not a monolithic bloc anyway but he has to tread carefully since many of the different segments can potentially be unified \*negatively \*by an opponent appealing to the decades-long perception, not always fair, of Cuban “privilege” (as in: _“Oh, so if you row yourself in at night you’re a job-stealing illegal to be arrested, but if HE does he’s a freedom-loving refugee to be sheltered?”_). There is no love lost between many factions in the non-Cuban-Latino “base” and the Miami Cuban Establishment. Plus, of course, for a long time and probably even now, a lot of the wealthy Cubans who have called for the embargo so single-mindedly are old Batista cronies. Some of whom came to the US and set up farms in south Florida where migrant workers were enslaved. [And I’m not using the term “enslaved” casually.](http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/farmworkers-exploited-even-enslaved-in-florida/798738) Real classy bunch, those old-line Cubans. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/57 "2014-12-22T00:35:52Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Racist 😉 As a “joke” this failed and it is offensive. Knock it off. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/58 "2014-12-22T01:11:11Z")
Whoa, there… > [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Plus, of course, for a long time and probably even now, a lot of the wealthy Cubans who have called for the embargo so single-mindedly are old Batista cronies. Some of whom came to the US and set up farms in south Florida where migrant workers were enslaved. [And I’m not using the term “enslaved” casually.](http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/farmworkers-exploited-even-enslaved-in-florida/798738) > > Real classy bunch, those old-line Cubans. …may I point out nowhere in your linked article did it identify the ethnicity of the convicted abusive employers – but in [this report it indicates they were _ **Mexican** _](http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2009/03/politics-of-the-plate-the-price-of-tomatoes) (and not that old). And there is no indication in either report of the ethnicity of the landowners of the farms where the migrants were sent, but around Naples it’s probably as likely Cubans as Anglos as corporate farms. Just wanting to be fair. There are tons of sound reasons to disregard the pressure from the Miami Old Guard, and why that Miami Old Guard rubs much of the other Hispanic electorate and some of their own younger generation the wrong way. I wrote in a separate thread on the normalization issue: > [@](#): > > And neither are all the old anti-Castro hardliners old-family oligarchs longing for their manors and servants. Many were in fact at the time up-and-coming new middle class types that even supported the Revolution initially, and then got the shaft once it gained power – for them the sense of betrayal was even more intense, and by now carry 50 years of biterness. Revolutions become succesful when enough of the educated and middle classes at the very least stop supporting the _Ancien Régime_; but ironically these ended up in the same boat (maybe literally) as the Batista cronies, becoming with time all of them alike hardened bitter old men to whom everything and anything different is a communist conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/59 "2014-12-22T05:22:50Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > He, like most presidents since early on, is not ignoring laws; he’s acting on advice of legal counsel, who interprets to what extent the President can act within those laws. His actions may be challenged in the courts as to whether they are contrary to the intent of the law, but for now he’s operating on firm ground. I would agree that it can be seen as bully tactics, but it’s generally designed (as has been said by the President) to get Congress to actually do its job. If the President decided not to take action against companies violating the embargo, then that would establish a precedent that Presidents don’t have to enforce any laws they don’t want to. They don’t even have to doubt their constitutionality. They simply have to disagree with the law from a policy perspective, and poof! it’s as if it doesn’t even exist. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716/60 "2014-12-22T06:27:39Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Whoa, there…may I point out nowhere in your linked article did it identify the ethnicity of the convicted abusive employers – but in [this report it indicates they were _ **Mexican** _](http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2009/03/politics-of-the-plate-the-price-of-tomatoes) (and not that old). And there is no indication in either report of the ethnicity of the landowners of the farms where the migrants were sent, but around Naples it’s probably as likely Cubans as Anglos as corporate farms. Well OK, [here’s a story](http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2001/02/floridas-fanjuls-200102)about Bastista cronies who came to America, set up sugar plantations, enslaved workers, and wielded enormous political power. Whaddya know. I never said they were the only ones doing it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-marco-rubio-considered-a-legitimate-2016-contender/707716.md?page=4)