_Senator Rubio and his photogenic family: Coming soon

to a campaign trail near you._

GQ: Do you think you're moving too fast? ****

Marco Rubio: For most of my life I've been in a hurry. I don't regret any of the choices I've made, but sometimes timing isn't up for us to decide on taking some of the opportunities as they present themselves.

GQ: We've seen people tend toward inspiring transformational figures. You know you had Barack Obama in 2004...

Marco : I don't know how inspiring I am to people on the left [laughs], but I'm not a big believer in transformative people in politics. There are people that have a historic opportunity to speak the truth and take on issues of the historic moment.

GQ: Do you want to be one of those people?

Marco Rubio: That's not something you can choose to be. That's something that just happens and falls on your lap. Usually, it falls on your lap during periods of extreme trial and I don't think any of us want to experience extreme trial for our country. We would much prefer to be not historic on those terms. I think I've been given a unique opportunity to serve during an important time in American history and I would like to make a contribution. I am troubled that sometimes in our political discourse we spend all of our time focused on the challenges of the next century rather than on the opportunities of the new century.

GQ: People often talk about how there are politicians and there are leaders.

Marco Rubio: A politician is very good at navigating the process of politics. It involves getting a few things done for the people who sent you there, but mostly perpetuating your time in office. A leader may end up being able to accomplish that, but is more motivated by the desire to accomplish something, and usually when you try to accomplish something you're almost never judged kindly by your contemporaries. I think that's true for all great leaders. If you look back, they were almost all significantly unpopular or had tremendous opposition they faced because of what they were trying to do.

GQ: By that definition Obama would fall into that, right?

Marco Rubio: Just because you have opposition doesn't make you a great leader. The opposition faced by Barack Obama is a lot more based on an ideology and view of government that stands in contrast with what half this country believes. That's why there is great opposition to him and I think there will be the same type of opposition for the person who gets elected and believes in the same things I believe in.

GQ: The Republican strategy after Obama came into office was to make sure the president didn't have another term. The Republicans didn't have a plan and were just going to say no to everything the president put forth.

Marco Rubio: I don't know how many people bought into that. There were some in politics who believed that all you had to do was be the alternative to the incumbent and you would win, but I never believed in that. I've always believed that you were better on offense than you were on defense. You were much better being for something than against someone. I think the bigger challenge that we face, and that we continue to face, is that we have not done a good enough job of communicating to people what conservatism is. In fact, we've allowed a myth to take hold in the minds of some that conservatism is about helping the people who have "made it" and not about helping the people who are trying to make it. I think we have a very compelling argument, which happens to be true: the people who have made it, billionaires and multi-billion dollar corporations, they may not like big government, but they can afford to deal with it. They can hire the best lawyers in America and try to figure out the loopholes and the best lobbyists to create them. In fact, they use big government to their advantage. They'll have regulations and rules written to hurt their competition. So, big government helps the people who have made it. It doesn't help the people who are trying to make it, it crushes the people who are trying to make it. So, our challenge is, if we want free enterprise, limited government, and conservatism to be a viable and successful political movement in America, we've got to make that connection for people.