By Marylou Barry

I have this horrible dark suspicion that I cannot shake.

As a pessimist by birth and having learned not to trust human beings very much by experience – especially politicians – I am afraid that whoever wins the Republican presidential nomination is planning to pick Marco Rubio as his running mate. Personally I have nothing against Rubio. He is young, intelligent, good-looking and at least relatively conservative. But Marco Rubio has one irreconcilable problem, at least for those of us who are constitutionalists: Marco Rubio is not a natural-born U.S. citizen.

‘I think that’s taken’

At the University of North Florida Republican debate on Jan. 26, candidate Newt Gingrich hinted at choosing Rubio as a running mate. Next, the possibility of Rubio’s selection was discussed openly by Sean Hannity and WND editor Joseph Farah on the “Hannity” show, pouring new fuel on my already smoldering sense of dread. They were discussing the possible intent of candidate Rick Santorum who remains in the race despite disappointing showings.

“Well, I think Santorum’s doing one of two things,” Farah theorized. “I think he’s either trying to position himself as, ‘There’s no mud on me and I’m a bona fide conservative,’ and maybe that’s going to propel him to the front of the race. Or that other thing that had crossed my mind when he was really talking about Newt criticizing Romney, the thought occurred to me, ‘Is he trying to position himself for a vice-presidential candidacy there?’”

“I think that’s taken,” Hannity said. “I think it’s gonna be Rubio. That’s my guess.”

“If it’s not, somebody’s lost their mind,” Democratic strategist Bob Beckel, another show guest, agreed.

Dead air

Those two incidents by themselves wouldn’t seem so ominous had I not received an email from a friend right before the Hannity interview. The friend had received a donation request from the Santorum campaign, but he wrote back asking Santorum’s stand on the Obama eligibility issue before sending his donation.

“Dear Rick,” he wrote, “Thank you for your email below. If you own the ‘eligibility issue,’ which you seem to have avoided up until now but which a Georgia court recently seems to have been willing to give serious consideration, I will, Lord willing, donate to your campaign. Let me know when you own the issue. The GA governor, BTW, owned it long ago – and was subsequently elected. I believe if you own this issue, you will get a significant ‘bump.’”

Although my friend requested a response by a stated deadline, all he has received from the Santorum campaign so far is dead air. Come to think of it, that’s all any of us have received from any of the candidates on this subject.

Is the fix already in?

It’s scary to think that the Republican and Democratic parties might actually be joined at the hip, with everybody in the country knowing this except the poor benighted voter. If it’s true, columnist Barry Farber nailed it perfectly when he wrote: “Both of America’s political parties are Marxist. The Democrats are Karl. The Republicans are Groucho.”

I shrink from the idea that the treachery has reached this level, but if it has, the Democrats must see Marco Rubio as the perfect antidote for Obama’s natural-born citizenship crisis. In the words of the old Jerry Lewis song, if you can’t raise the bridge, lower the river. Rubio on the GOP ballot wouldn’t remove Obama’s apparent ineligibility, but it would sure blur the issue and remove any high ground Republicans have from which to point it out. Forcing voters to choose between one ineligible candidate and another would shut down the questions forever and render any future appeals to the Constitution hypocritical.

It seems the Democrats always knew about the eligibility problem but didn’t care. I remember suspecting they wanted a controllable incumbent they could yank out, if he ever failed to do their will, by suddenly “discovering” his ineligibility. Now I think I missed the point completely. Now I think their purpose was not to control who occupied the White House, but to smash the Constitution. What is the irresistible draw of the pleasant but inexperienced freshman from Florida if this is not true? How many other ineligibles are on the scene besides him and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, the other most frequently mentioned name? I rest my case.

At present, both Gingrich and Santorum appear oblivious to the natural-born citizenship requirement and seem willing to run with Rubio, although Rubio is keeping his options open. If my horrible dark suspicion is right, this may be our last election under the rule of law, because with an ineligible on the Republican ticket, Obama is off the hook, and no matter which party wins the general election, the Constitution loses.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope we’ll be able to wipe our brows and laugh afterwards, like little kids climbing off their first roller coaster ride, realizing that we had a close call but that we’re really safe and we’ll all know better next time. But if we let an ineligible’s nomination downgrade our founding document to a “living” suggestion box, there will be no next time, because the “fix” for Obama’s problem – and for the authority of our Constitution – will already be in.

Marylou Barry is a writer, editor and children’s book author. Visit her bookstore at HouseWithTheLightBooks.com and her editing service at AllThingsEditorial.wordpress.com.

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