Senator Marco Rubio, the most talented speaker in American politics today, kept pretty quiet for his first six months in office. It wasn’t until June 14 that he delivered his first speech on the Senate floor. But when he finally had something to say, he didn’t fail to impress. He delivered another powerful performance in the debt ceiling debate over the weekend during a colloquy with Senator John Kerry. And yesterday he took to the Senate floor and gave a quite interesting 10-minute speech on the two competing economic visions that divide us.

Rather than blaming politicians in Washington for the division (as politicians in Washington are wont to do), he said the problem runs much deeper. “Washington is divided because America is divided on this point,” Rubio said. He was civil and fair-minded toward his opponents. But he didn’t promise to bring us all together with a “balanced approach” or by being a “uniter, not a divider.” He didn’t promise to turn our blue states and red states into one nation of purply goodness. He argued we may not find compromise between the two visions. We may have to choose one or the other.