Rubio says:
I disagree with the way in which the current administration has chosen to engage. For while there are few global problems we can solve by ourselves, there are virtually no global problems that can be solved without us. In confronting the challenges of our time, there are more nations than ever capable of contributing, but there is still only one that is capable of leading.
And I disagree with voices in my own party who argue we should not engage at all. Who warn we should heed the words of John Quincy Adams not to go “abroad, in search of monsters to destroy”.
I disagree because all around us we see the human face of America’s influence in the world. It actually begins with not just our government, but our people.
He is taking a distinct shot at the Non-Interventionist wing of the Republican Party (the few). In particular, he is taking a shot at Congressman Ron Paul, who has been the most vocal critic of the hawkish neo-conservative policy in the last 30 years. Rubio doesn’t waste a second in disagreeing with the sixth president of the United States. He argues that we live in a new world filled with new and necessary engagements, and further that we have this right to intervene for the sake of the world. America, in the eyes of Marco Rubio, is a sacrament without which no other nation can live without.
Rubio is setting the precedent for an overwhelming interventionism. Guided by Lieberman and McCain, Rubio is shaping up the new Republican administration, which is merely a continuation of Bush’s.
It is true, however, that America has influenced the world. But in what sense? How do we speak of American values when our wars have cost the lives of millions in the last decade? In the eyes of Rubio America is not even prepared to break the barriers with his native Cuba. In Rubio’s worldview we are still at war with Cuba, and in a perpetual war with the Middle East.
The Romney presidency–assuming he gets through Tampa Bay–is a presidency shaped by advisors. Who will advise Romney? Thus far Kristol has won the day, and the part of the wing that wishes to bring some sort of sanity to a war-weary country is now at the mercy of a war-seeking candidate.<>
