At least, Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican Cuban-American from Florida  --  who is leading in most of the 2016 Republican presidential national polls  --  is putting his political career on the line as a member of the Senate immigration reform group called the “Gang of Eight” which is routinely condemned by a lot of conservatives.  On the other hand, the president  --  who does not have to run for reelection again  --  is “hiding under his desk” (Bill O’Reilly’s description of those people unwilling to come on his Fox News show to debate him) with regards to serious immigration reform. 

Canadian-born Ted Cruz, freshman Republican senator from Texas, can never be president of the United States.  On the other hand, he can be Senate Majority Leader. 

Senator Cruz seems to be taking the opposite path to Republican congressional leadership than has his fellow Hispanic, fellow Reaganite, and fellow Tea Party hero, Senator Marco Rubio, R-FL.  The latter senator sat on the back benches in the Senate chamber for most of his first two years in the Senate beginning on January 2011 until stepping into the spotlight.  And what a spotlight that has been, including giving the response last week to the president’s state of the union speech.