As Sen.
Marco Rubio of Florida tossed his hat into the ring for president on Monday, he reminded many observers of the current White House occupant.
Both sought the Oval Office as first-term senators. Obama was the nation's first black president. Rubio would be the first Hispanic president.
Fox News Channel political analyst Brit Hume and National Journal's Ron Fournier suggested on Monday's
"Special Report" that those similarities will hurt Rubio.
Not so, GOP operative Karl Rove says.
"Barack Obama was in the Illinois state Senate and voted 'present.' Marco Rubio was in the Florida House of Representatives and was known as a strong, effective conservative leader," Rove said on Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."
"Barack Obama said as little as possible except he was against the Iraq war," Rove said, while Rubio since 2010 has been a "constructive and engaged person no matter what policy he is on, starting with the Foreign Relations Committee."
Obama began his presidential campaign after only two years in the U.S. Senate, whereas Rubio has been in office twice that long. He will have served almost his entire Senate term by the time of November's general election.
Columnist Charles Krauthammer, also appearing on "Special Report," said the bigger plus for Rubio is that he is the opposite of expected Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
"On paper he's the classic candidate you'd want against Clinton because … he's young versus old, but also he negates and goes after her disadvantage," Krauthammer said. "The fact is that there's already a Clinton fatigue even before her campaign starts."
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