Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won the prize Monday for making the most uniquely hypocritical presidential bid announcement of anyone thus far in the 2016 field.
Drawing on the story of his immigrant parents—one a bartender and the other a cashier/maid—and their journey to the American dream, Rubio said:
"Whether we remain a special country will depend on whether that journey is still possible for those who are trying to make it right now."
Too bad Rubio isn't doing anything to help make that American dream available to anyone else.
Even as he lauded this country as "a collection of immigrants and exiles," he remains focused on beefing up border security. He wants to "wind down" President Obama's program to provide work permits to immigrants who were brought here as minors through no fault of their own. And he has adamantly opposed the president's effort to provide deportation relief to the parents of immigrant children and legal residents.
"The precedent the president set is horrifying," Rubio said. "I believe that the president's decision really stretches his constitutional powers and you can make a very compelling argument that it violates it."
Rubio
also doesn't support a raise for any of the people who now work in the same types of jobs that his parents once did.
"Minimum wage laws have never worked in terms of having the middle class attain more prosperity."
As one might expect, Rubio hit all the GOP hot-button issues in his speech: he's a pro-life, family values loving, foreign policy hawk who supports Israel, quotes scripture and hates the government.
"[T]he family not the government is the most important institution in our society."
The only thing he seems to revere less than the government is the past. He spent a lot of time painting himself as the face of "a new American century" while taking swipes at Hillary Clinton as the candidate of a bygone era.
"Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday began a campaign for president by promising to take us back to yesterday. But yesterday is over, and we are never going back."
For someone who is running on the strength of his parents' resume, Marco Rubio sure does seem estranged from the past.