In remarks Wednesday before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, excerpts of which were provided to National Review, Rubio will propose resisting “efforts by large powers to subjugate their smaller neighbors” and advancing “the rights of the vulnerable, including women and the religious minorities that are so often persecuted.” Like Truman, Rubio will urge the renewed expansion of American power in explicitly moral terms: The United States, he will say, is a global leader “not just because it has superior arms, but because it has superior aims.”…

Rubio will set forth the three principles that he believes should “govern the exercise of our power.” He is unabashed about suggesting that the Rubio doctrine could one day find itself on the same plane as those of Truman, Kennedy, or Reagan, though it is perhaps less concise. The Rubio doctrine, he will say, consists of funding the military in order to restore and maintain American military strength; opposing “any violations of international waters, airspace, cyberspace, or outer space”; and supporting the spread of freedom, both economic and political, across the globe.

Since his election to the Senate in 2010, Rubio’s fluency on foreign policy has become something of a calling card. But during the 2008 election season, as he closed out his time as House speaker, it’s apparent world affairs were not yet a top priority for the 36-year-old lawmaker. “For those of us who consider ourselves to be Reagan conservatives, Mike Huckabee is our best chance to win the nomination,” Rubio told reporters. “People are looking for genuineness and sincerity in politics. He has those qualities as well as the positive leadership skills needed to run our country.”