Prominent National Conservative Pundit Looks at Marco Rubio's Role in Immigration Reform

In recent days, U.S. Marco Rubio, R-Fl, has been buffered by criticism from conservatives over his role in championing immigration reform. While Rubio is trying his best to keep his bridges to conservatives intact, by calling for more border security and by supporting a constiutional amendment aimed at repealing the federal healthcare law, he is still getting the support of one of the nations leading right-of-center pundits.

Fred Barnes looks at Rubio in the latest issue of The Weekly Standard:

Rubios role is pivotal. Without him, Senate passage of long overdue changes in immigration law would be in jeopardy. Prospects for House passage would be dimmed if not doomed.

And Republicans would suffer a strategic setback. The stigmafair or unfairthat theyre anti-immigrant, especially when it comes to Hispanics, would seem to be confirmed. Democrats and the media would certainly claim it had been. And the GOPs ability to win national elections and races in immigrant-heavy states would be diminished.

Worse, the country would be left with millions of residents here illegally but eager to become citizens. These are people for whom legal entry, after waiting for years, even decades, was never a real option. Nor is self-deportation today.

Barnes even compares Rubio to another Republican who played a prominent role in national politics:

Rubio must keep immigration reform alive. After Senate passage, there will be two opportunities to improve the bill, first in the House, then in House-Senate negotiations on a compromise. His influence will be critical at both stages.

In 1986, Representative Jack Kemp was under enormous pressure to vote against a tax reform bill, crafted by Democrats, that Republican leaders loathed. It set the top income tax rate at 38 percent and reduced the personal exemption. The bill passed narrowly with Kemps vote, only to be drastically improved by the Senate. The top rate at final passage was 28 percent.

Like Kemp, Rubio will be vindicated once a fairer, more secure immigration system is the law of the land and Republicans are no longer shut out of the Hispanic community. Credit wont come soon. But when it does, Rubio will be first in line to get it.

The full article can be found here.