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HOH’s One-Minute Recess: The Waiting Is Over

We have all been waiting, and on Tuesday, nearly six months after he was first sworn in, Sen. Marco Rubio spoke on the floor.

For reasons that we at HOH don’t quite understand, this was a big, big deal to people other than the Florida Republican, his speechwriter and his family.

“Finally … Sen. Rubio will be recognized to give his maiden speech to the Senate,” Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said while giving the daily schedule.

Finally is right! The speech that took months to write (and just a few minutes to deliver) included the sweeping story of America from Plymouth Rock to the Internet and the Civil War to the moon. Also something about President John F. Kennedy’s speech and walls.

He ended by quoting President Ronald Reagan’s “City on a Hill” speech, saying America had inspired other countries. “It is the light of an American century that now spreads throughout the Earth, a world that still needs America, a world that still needs our light, a world that needs a new American century,” he said.

Even better than the speech though was the media blitz covering the freshman’s big day (which will soon become a day like any other, Senator.)

Rubio’s maiden speech was covered by nearly every major U.S. media outlet, including the New York Times, ABC News, Fox News and the Washington Post.

Roll Call reported in May that Rubio was waiting for the perfect moment to make his move and wax poetic on the Senate floor and that moment, ladies and gentlemen, was Tuesday.

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