Rubio's "Marcobot Moment" & What It Says About Politics Today

A little over one week ago, one of the major Republican candidates, Marco Rubio, had an embarrassing moment during the Republican debates.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie blasted Rubio for basically memorizing certain talking points from index cards, suggesting that the points were well made, but that Rubio needed to show stronger leadership by thinking outside of the box.

Somehow, without finding the irony, let alone the disastrous consequences to come, Rubio went right from being criticized for acting like a robot reading off cue cards and without an independent mind to think to acting like a robot reading off cue cards and without an independent mind to think with. He basically said the same thing that he had said which got Christie going about reading off memory from the index cards, saying the same thing, with slightly different wording. Later on in the debate, he did it yet again.

This hurt Rubio's presidential campaign, and fairly seriously, at least for the moment. He had just come off a solid third place finish in Iowa that effectively established himself as the major "establishment" candidate, which means that he would be the main guy that most mainstream Republicans would turn to. But after this debacle of a performance in the New Hampshire debate, he sank all the way to fifth, and suddenly, as quickly as he had risen to the ranks of the favorites, his entire campaign seemed to be in trouble.

It was compared to former Texas Governor Rick Perry's embarrassing moment in the 2012 campaign, when he could not remember what he had, moments before, described as his three major ideas for his presidential campaign. Perry never came close to recovering after that. That is not to say that this was comparable to that. In fact, my suspicion is that it is wishful thinking on the part of his detractors.

Still, it showed a lack of flexibility and, frankly, ability, on the part of Rubio. To prove that Christie's criticism was right, that Rubio is, in essence, reading from points that he memorized on index cards, and that he is unable to think outside of that, puts into question just how effective he would be as Commander-in-Chief.

The moment has become one of the most popular and memorable events so far in this 2016 campaign, and some people have given it the label of "Marcobot," obviously implying that Marco Rubio sounded and acted pretty much like a robot just spouting off specific information, rather than adapting to changing situations.

Embarrassing, to say the least. Rubio denied that it was embarrassing the following day, but admitted after he dipped in the polls and had a disappointing finish in New Hampshire that it was, indeed, a bad moment for him.

It really is astonishing to me, these people that think that they are somehow qualified for the highest office in the land, simply because they have the perfect political image for it. They can sound articulate before the cameras for soundbites, and that is clearly what they are aiming for.

Personally, I think that soundbites are an indication that the American people as a whole are getting dumber, and the emphasis on soundbites is proof that the attention span is decreasing dramatically. Once you get beyond these soundbites, you had better be able to continue to articulate your vision, or you might prove yourself to be entirely unqualified to be considered for the highest office (at least if you ask me).

Let's see how this effects the Rubio campaign in the long run. But for me, all of the hype surrounding Rubio, and all of that talk that he was the leading "serious" candidate, basically just went out the window. He showed himself to be very much the problem as a mainstream candidate who is too polished, and reveals how much he rehearses in order to further his political ambitions, without giving serious thought to the problems that the country faces, and what kind of leadership would be required to restore the country to former days of greatness.

It is this tunnel vision by mainstream politicians transparently getting rich and trying to further their political career by any means necessary that has gotten people so sick of politics in general, and this is the reason that so-called outsider candidates are gaining traction and enjoying success like never before. This is particularly true for Donald Trump, who sounds anything but rehearsed, but is still nonetheless enjoying incredible success at this stage of the race as the frontrunner on the Republican side.

People are getting tired of overly polished candidates like Hillary and Marcobot. Donald Trump might not be the answer, but clearly, people are beginning to realize that these kinds of robotic politicians, with corporate money in their campaign coffers and key talking points memorized like a school kid preparing for an exam also are not the answer, either.

Here is the link to an article from the night after Rubio's now embarrassing and infamous "Marcobot" moment:


Last Night's "Marcobot Moment" May Have Ruined a Political Career —By Kevin Drum | Sun Feb. 7, 2016:

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/last-nights-marcobot-moment-may-have-ruined-political-career