Florida Senator Marco Rubio delivers the traditional Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address tonight, appearing directly after Obama's concludes his speech. Watch the response below.
The response to the State of the Union from the opposition party is a chance for Republicans to deflect criticism leveled at them by the president, refute his central arguments and offer their own, truncated vision for the country.
It is a difficult task, particularly because the response is typically much shorter then the State of the Union. A politician tasked with responding to a State of the Union address must be succinct, but also inspiring and informative.
The selection of Rubio to give the response is telling. Rubio is widely considered to be in the running for the Republican nomination in 2016. As a Cuban-American, he is popular both in his home state of Florida -- often a crucial swing state -- but also among Latinos nationwide.
Republicans have tried to woo Latinos since the election, when 71 percent of the demographic voted for President Obama.
Rubio's personal views are in step with the Republican platform, except on the issue of immigration reform, where his stance is more progressive. However, recent bipartisan efforts at immigration reform have seen former Republican stalwarts come out in favor of measures more similar to Rubio's own positions, as well as those of the Democrats.
Expect Rubio to call for more bipartisan compromise on immigration reform. He will likely praise Obama's efforts on the issue, perhaps in Spanish, before assuring the Republican base that border security is still a top priority.
But most of his time will be spent on the economy, insisting that spending cuts must be made to entitlement programs and that further tax hikes on wealthy Americans are unfair and bad for job growth.
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