Hugs don’t mean much to us.
The Editorial Board has embraced old acquaintances we’d rather not see, weird relatives we’d rather not hear and ugly babies we’d rather not smell. Sometimes, a hug is just a social maneuver designed to keep the peace or appease the other party.
Marco Rubio doesn’t seem to understand this concept, so, as the Republican Senate primary draws nearer, he’s holding a rally to remind voters how heinous the Obama-Crist hug was. To emphasize the point, Rubio’s speaking at the same spot the offense occurred.
A year ago, Gov. Crist hugged Obama in Fort Myers to show support for the stimulus bill the president was pushing. As we remember, Obama still had that new president smell lingering around him. He was riding a wave of popular support at the time, and most politicians would have been happy to associate with him.
However, feelings change and hope is turning into despair and anger for much of the nation. So, as self-serving politicians have done for centuries, Crist drifted to a more popular opinion, leaving himself open to accusations of changing his stance on various issues.
Politicians change their minds just as everyday people do, although with a keener eye for strategy. The Board would usually shy away from defending Charlie, but Rubio needs to get over his aversion to PDAs and start focusing on the true issues in the Senate race. When the run up to an election reminds us of tweens gossiping about who kissed whom, we tend to roll our eyes.
Rubio should hope other voters don’t do the same.
