The fundamental problem with Senator Rand Paul is that it is difficult to discern what he actually stands for. Or if he stands for anything at all. His defenders, and there are many in that category who rightly hope for a shake-up in American politics, often suggest that he will show his true colors and become a reincarnation of his father if he avoids all the pitfalls and is finally elected president. They claim that to evade all the traps that are being set to snare him Rand must constantly triangulate where he is vis-à-vis the powerbrokers in the GOP and perforce embrace some positions that he would otherwise find philosophically unpalatable. But that is the price of doing business if one wants to succeed in politics.