Marco Rubio 2016 Run: Republican Stays Strong On Israel, Middle East

Will Marco Rubio run for President in 2016? The potential candidate faced off with Sen. Rand Paul in the press over conflicts in the Middle East. Republican Senator Rubio is calling for "muscular" leadership in the Arab world.

Marco Rubio in 2016 for President is looking like a real possibility. The Republican senator from Florida gave the official rebuttal to Obama's State of the Union address earlier this year, making a splash in the competitive field of candidate for the 2016 presidential election.

The Marco Rubio 2016 campaign for President of the U.S. may have already begun. Recently, the Florida senator with Cuban parents took a foreign and possibly diplomatic trip to Middle East, visiting Israel and its Arab neighbor Jordan. The two small countries are both strong American allies in the troubled region.

Marco Rubio returned from his trip to Israel and Jordan and is now calling for a stronger, "more muscular brand of global leadership", noted the Washington Times. The Senator is flexing his muscles on the national political stage, and the Times suggests that he may be doing so to warm up for the 2016 presidential campaign.

It turns out Marco Rubio's beliefs about Israel and the Middle East were probably influenced by George W. Bush's foreign affairs adviser Jamie Fly, a political analyst told the Times.

"What you are getting from Rand is really what he thinks," said Vice President James Jay Carafano of defense policies studies at the Heritage Foundation told the Washington daily newspaper. "What you are getting from Rubio is in part Jamie, who is more senior, more experienced, and who is more on the side of the offensive realists."

The Marco Rubio who's running for Ppresident in 2016 may be strong on the Israel and the Middle East, but is he telling us what he believes or what he thinks Americans and Republicans voters want him to say. The troubled and violent Middle East is an easy target for presidential candidates and a likely weak point for the Democratic Party.

What does Marco Rubio really believe? We can't help but wonder if his strong support for Israel and the rest of America's allies in the Middle East is for all the wrong reasons (aka political reasons) or if he actually believes the things he is saying at all.

Maybe this is taking it a bit too far. After all, Marco Rubio has no reason not to strongly support Israel and the rest of America's allies in the Middle East. But sometimes it seems like politicians (Democrats and Republicans) use their support of Israel and muscular policies in the Middle East as a political weapon.