With a strong second place finish in South Carolina, behind Donald Trump, Senator Marco Rubio is well positioned to consolidate support from mainstream Republicans who are strongly averse to Trump and Cruz. This bodes well for Indian Americans who find Trump’s bigotry dangerous to their well being as well as those who are uncomfortable with Cruz’s Christian zeal. March Rubio is a candidate that conservatively inclined Indian Americans can get behind.

Not surprisingly, both governors of Indian descent, Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, have endorsed Rubio. In fact, if not for Nikki Haley’s endorsement Rubio may have garnered significantly less votes than his immediate rival, Ted Cruz. This leads to speculation that Haley is on Rubio’s shortlist for Vice President should he go on to win the presidency.

At a recent luncheon hosted for Rubio in Philadelphia he was asked for his views on India and Pakistan. His response was that Pakistan seems obsessed with India but India itself does not think much about Pakistan, instead focusing its attention on growing its economy and creating jobs for its people. Without reading too much into it, Rubio intuitively seems to grasp the aspirations of Indians and may be a great advocate for building a strategic partnership between India and the U.S., the two greatest democracies in the world.

The last Republican leader, actually the last American leader, who excited Indian Americans was George W. Bush. With a vision to build a strategic partnership with India, President Bush pushed through a strategic nuclear deal that brought India from the sidelines to the world stage as a trusted partner of the West. Unfortunately, he also pushed ahead with a ruinous war with Iraq whose impact we are still reeling from. Many blame the emergence of ISIS on the destabilization caused to the region by our invasion of Iraq. Rubio seems to share Bush’s enthusiasm for intervening aggressively on the world stage to promote America’s interests.

Bush espoused a doctrine of “compassionate conservatism” and there is much in common with Rubio’s positions on the social and economic front. Rubio supports broad based tax cuts that favor the affluent donor class of the GOP while still giving something tangible to the middle class. Both support immigration reform but are in favor of a strong border. Both viewed mass deportation of illegal immigrants as impractical and use language that shows compassion and empathy with the immigrant experience. Both are opposed to same-sex marriage, are pro-life, and religious without being dogmatic.

So for what its worth, a Rubio presidency could well be a repeat of the George W. Bush presidency. Compassionate conservatism with a dose of international intervention. Marco Rubio is the best choice for Indian Americans searching for a GOP candidate to back.