SHREWD MOVE – AT 8:11 A.M. ET:  A few days after declaring that he was not running for president in 2012, and even discouraging talk of the vice presidency, new GOP Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has reportedly made a shrewd move that could place him at the center of Republican policymaking.  Bill Kristol at the Weekly Standard breaks the story:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained the text of a letter freshman senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sent tonight to the Senate majority and minority leaders. In it, Rubio proposes that the Senate authorize the president’s use of force in Libya, and that the authorization state that the aim of the use of force should be the removal of the Qaddafi regime.

This is by far the boldest move Rubio has made—it’s perhaps the boldest move any freshman senator has made—in the three months since the beginning of the 112th Congress. Rubio is taking on those in his own party who wish to distance themselves from what they consider Obama’s war in Libya. He is answering critics of the war who have tried to cast a vague sense of illegitimacy over the action because Congress hasn’t explicitly authorized it. And Rubio is trying to push the administration into fully embracing regime change as an explicit goal, thus providing a compelling clarity for American military action—a clarity that he thinks will increase support for the effort at home and the chances of success on the ground.

This is a striking bid by a freshman senator to exercise foreign policy leadership, in the face of opposition from some in his own party and reluctance by the Obama administration. If he succeeds in galvanizing Republican support for the war and influencing the administration’s conduct of it, it will be a remarkable achievement.

COMMENT:  Remarkable move for Rubio, whom we like very much here.  Yes, he's inexperienced, but actually has far more high-level political experience than a certain Chicago politician had when he successfully ran for president in 2008.

Despite Rubio's pronouncements about 2012, don't count him out.  At least the guy has guts, and is as good a campaigner as Obama.

March 31, 2011