Like Obama and Kennedy, Rubio seems to have sensed at an early age how his personal identity could make for an attractive political persona, and then shaped his resume, his policy-profile, and experiences to emphasize the point. Politics at this level is almost like a casting call. The life of a nation is a kind of drama and voters are the audience. Politicians put themselves forward as a stage-character, a protagonist who can meet the moment.

As a protagonist in America’s drama, Rubio’s role is to represent the rise of the last great wave of immigration to this country, and his role is to reconcile the Republican Party with the future that includes these immigrants and their descendants not just as beneficiaries of America’s generous immigration policy and dynamic economy, but as full Americans with a full say in the nation’s future.

That older white Republican voters like Marco Rubio is only going to help Marco Rubio. He gives them hope that their ideals will outlive the Nixon-Reagan coalition. And the voters that matter in battleground states are not always so ideological as journalists think.