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March 19th, 2024

Insight

Rubio's the answer

Jay Ambrose

By Jay Ambrose

Published Feb. 25, 2016

It's not going to be easy to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican nomination and probably then losing to the trick-a-day, policy-confused Hillary Clinton or doing something else to make us tremble. He could actually come to occupy the White House and then unleash hoards of his promised barbaric errors.

The erasure of his chances, which is nothing short of a duty for those who have closely examined him, will also be arduous. In addition to Ben Carson and John Kasich joining the 12 who have already skadoodled from the race, we need to have as many as feel right about it to become actively involved in promoting the candidacy of the exuberantly special Marco Rubio.

They need to speak up loud and clear for him, to enunciate carefully why he is a better choice than Trump or even the somewhat less worrisome Ted Cruz. This won't be easy. It can mean shoving ego aside, of humbling themselves a tad, but there's a reason they should act: wanting what's best for America instead of what most heightens sense of self.

Simply following the example of Jeb Bush, who said hi, ho away he goes after being trounced in South Carolina, isn't enough because it is uncertain how many of those votes will float in Rubio's direction.

For sure, it's thought by some that the best Trump's zaniness-laden marketing skills can accomplish is to win about a third of all votes, but there are other statistical investigations that indicate otherwise. That's why it's crucial for some to keep campaigning even when it's for someone else, although dropping out is step one even when it comes to someone as well-qualified as Kasich.

He was in the House of Representatives for 18 years, serving in major positions and learning how D.C. works. He is in his second term as the enormously successful governor of Ohio. Unlike Cruz, whose often deceptive, self-advertising, overwrought stances have never accomplished boo in Washington, he tells the truth, shines with goodness, works with others and gets things done. Despite a surprise showing in New Hampshire, however, he does not have a chance in this race and could do a world of good by leaving the campaign and pushing hard for Rubio, who fares much better and seems mostly in tune with his views.

While Rubio should promise them nothing for their support and they should give it without expectations, some of these ex-candidates could play important parts in a Rubio administration. It's not the least bit hard to imagine Bush as a terrific secretary of defense or Chris Christie as an outstanding attorney general. Carson could be a surgeon general of exceptional merit and here's who Rubio's running mate should be: Kasich, whose experience would counter-balance Rubio's relative inexperience, one of his negatives.

He has others, and even I do not agree with all his positions, but I also honestly believe he has the demonstrated character and intellect to give us a unifying 21st century administration that could make us more secure, boost the economy, lift spirits and reinvigorate a wilting exceptionalism. That's a positive message that ought to be preached, but there's an honest, not so comfortable message about Trump that needs spreading, too.

I am not talking about something evil, as when President Barack Obama's supporters as much as accused Mitt Romney in 2012 of killing a woman in a grotesquely misleading TV ad. There can be factually accurate, calmly stated expositions of a candidate who openly calls for the families of terrorists to be killed, who advocates policies that could put hundreds of thousands out of work, who is one day for the Obamacare mandate and the next day isn't.

The list is long to the point of exhaustion, but information counts, America counts and some of Rubio's former opponents must therefore stand up and do the right thing.

Jay Ambrose
(TNS)

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Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers and the editor of dailies in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, is a columnist living in Colorado.

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