I didn't know whether to shake my head in disgust or cringe and feel sorry for Marco Rubio last night when giving the State of the Union rebuttal. Granted, it is quite the difficult and awkward task for a person to follow the president's State of the Union speech. Since there's less time to give the speech, details tend to be substituted with generalities, slogans, and talking points. There isn't a great deal of time to go through one's notes regarding the speech, so this too can limit the number of specific details one can present in the rebuttal. Less people tune into the rebuttal than the actual State of the Union speech, and the overall presentation works against the person giving the rebuttal as well. Whereas the president hears commentary emanating from members of Congress' mouths during the speech, along with loud roars, and standing ovations at times, the individual giving the rebuttal typically appears to be in a room all by himself/herself, along with the camera-person.
So, yes, part of me feels for a person like Marco Rubio, who was placed in that difficult position last night. The pressure was placed on him to produce, to become the new face for the party, much like Bobby Jindal was not too long ago, and like Jindal, Rubio fell flat on his face (figuratively speaking, of course). What's the one moment of Rubio's speech that people are talking about? When the guy appeared to be so uncomfortable and nervous, he reached out for a bottle of water, took a drink, handed it back, and went right back to talking. There are already several YouTube clips of this very moment, where people are poking fun at the guy. I have to imagine the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will poke fun of him as well on tonight's programs. When the one moment people remember about a speech is an awkward one where a guy reaches a ways for a bottle of water, it's pretty safe to say it's not going to be remembered as being a good speech.
If we were to just look at the actual content in the speech, it sounded like almost every other I've heard from leaders of the Republican Party in recent years. The guy sounded off on the president and the Democratic Party being about taxing and spending (where have I heard that before...) - that they were about big government, and that more government is never a good thing. Meanwhile, he talked about how he received student loans from the government to complete his education and get him to where he is today, before once again basically calling the government worthless. I know, it doesn't make sense, and even he seemed to have trouble buying what he was saying (being told to say).
If I had to grade Rubio's speech, I'd give it a "C-," as it sounded like almost every other like-speech I've heard from Republican leaders in recent years, yet with an above-average awkwardness about it. Like I said, I kind of felt sorry for the guy, yet can't find it in me to raise his grade any just based on that.
So, yes, part of me feels for a person like Marco Rubio, who was placed in that difficult position last night. The pressure was placed on him to produce, to become the new face for the party, much like Bobby Jindal was not too long ago, and like Jindal, Rubio fell flat on his face (figuratively speaking, of course). What's the one moment of Rubio's speech that people are talking about? When the guy appeared to be so uncomfortable and nervous, he reached out for a bottle of water, took a drink, handed it back, and went right back to talking. There are already several YouTube clips of this very moment, where people are poking fun at the guy. I have to imagine the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will poke fun of him as well on tonight's programs. When the one moment people remember about a speech is an awkward one where a guy reaches a ways for a bottle of water, it's pretty safe to say it's not going to be remembered as being a good speech.
If we were to just look at the actual content in the speech, it sounded like almost every other I've heard from leaders of the Republican Party in recent years. The guy sounded off on the president and the Democratic Party being about taxing and spending (where have I heard that before...) - that they were about big government, and that more government is never a good thing. Meanwhile, he talked about how he received student loans from the government to complete his education and get him to where he is today, before once again basically calling the government worthless. I know, it doesn't make sense, and even he seemed to have trouble buying what he was saying (being told to say).
If I had to grade Rubio's speech, I'd give it a "C-," as it sounded like almost every other like-speech I've heard from Republican leaders in recent years, yet with an above-average awkwardness about it. Like I said, I kind of felt sorry for the guy, yet can't find it in me to raise his grade any just based on that.
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