Jeb Bush was an excellent, conservative governor. He can raise money. He speaks Spanish and is married to a Hispanic woman. What we cannot measure is how much Bush fatigue would plague him. We know that his ties to wealthy donors and his elite pedigree play into the most damaging stereotypes about Republicans. I’m not saying that it’s fair, or that his policies wouldn’t help the middle class, but it would be foolish to overlook the perception of privilege. Further, assuming Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, running another Bush vitiates the argument that Republicans are the party of reform and the future.
Scott Walker is the Republican no one dislikes. His strengths are well known. But he is weak on foreign policy, which is nearly certain to play a much larger role in 2016 than it did in 2008 or 2012. His fumbling of some simple questions raises worries that he’s not tuned to the pitch necessary to solo with the big orchestra.
Marco Rubio doesn’t make those kinds of errors. He’s been on the national stage for four years, during which time he has distinguished himself not only as the most inspirational speaker in the Republican party but also as a serious policy innovator. With Senator Mike Lee, another Tea Party senator, he has just proposed a sweeping tax reform that would ease the lot of middle-class families while also promoting growth. He has proposed other reforms that are both substantively solid and politically shrewd — like forbidding the taxpayer bailouts of insurance companies (the so-called risk corridors) that are embedded in Obamacare. He understands the corrupting effects of government expansion, warning that too much government leads to “the inequality between those who can afford to influence government and those who can’t.”
Rubio has read broadly and thought deeply about the problems America confronts in the 21st century.
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