Florida’s senior U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio should make the most of his talents as “Trump whisperer.” He could help elevate the country’s stature in the eyes of a disappointed world.
This week, Republican leaders tapped Rubio to be acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the most powerful committees in Congress.
His predecessor, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, is under investigation for recent suspicious stock transactions after being briefed about the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. He has stepped aside.
Rubio, the committee’s most influential and knowledgeable member, is the right person for the job, be it temporary or permanent. Though he naturally demurred, acknowledging that he’s a fill-in, he’s savvy enough to know that he’s also a likely shoo-in for the position should Burr not return. In other words, it’s a serious audition.
First Cuban American
Foreign policy wrapped in national security long has been the senator’s strong suit. Having the Miami-based Rubio lead the committee is a feather in South Florida’s cap, too. He’s the first Cuban American to hold the post and the first Floridian since Bob Graham in 2003. Ours is a region where foreign policies involving international friends and foes are entwined with local politics — for good and for ill. Rubio’s selection couldn’t be more appropriate.
The committee oversees the U.S. intelligence community, the federal agencies and bureaus that provide information and analysis for leaders of the legislative and executive branch — that’s President Trump.
Rubio takes the panel’s main seat at a time of turnover and tension between the intelligence community and the White House. Trump has fired or removed several officials in the past year.
Against this backdrop, the man that Trump nicknamed “Little Marco” during Rubio’s failed 2016 run at the presidency, will bring his tough and insightful questioning of those who appear in front of the committee.
Rubio knows his stuff.
Familiar territory
Rubio’s disdain for bad international actors like Cuba, Venezuela, China, Russia and Iran is well-known. He will not tolerate their shenanigans and calls them out when necessary, especially Cuban and Venezuelan leaders.
Rubio often writes blistering Opinion articles in major American newspapers calling those countries on the carpet for their wrongdoing. Rubio should wholeheartedly continue to drive home the point that the United States is nobody’s fool. It’s not new territory for Rubio.
The senator single-handedly convinced President Trump that the Nicolas Maduro regime and his goons must go and has lobbied successfully to restrict Obama-era approved travel between the United States and Cuba. He has called out the Russians for meddling with our presidential election and China for its lack of transparency about the coronavirus epidemic. He agrees with Trump, who says the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one.
As he takes his new post, we urge the hawkish Rubio to pick his international battles carefully, and with nuance.
China, for instance, might not be our best friend, but Americans sure do like their iPhones and affordable footwear from Walmart. We urge him, too, to use his power of persuasion to instill a sense of less-heated and long-term strategy in the president, for the sake of national security.
He rightly pledges to work with Democrats, as he has done in the past. Great, the committee’s work should not dismissed as simplistic Trumpian pablum.
Rubio will now have access to some of the highest-level secrets in Congress. How he handles that knowledge is crucial to his success, and to our future.
— Miami Herald
