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Obama Speaks Up On Cuba
By Bill | August 21, 2007 | Email This Post
Senator Obama has written an opinion piece for the Miami Herald in which, among other things, he promises to grant Cuban Americans “unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island.” He also indicates his willingness to engage in talks with the Cuban government, following along the same theme that has previously led Hillary Clinton and others to accuse him of naivete.
Interesting that Obama should choose to bring up Cuba at the moment. No other Democratic candidate has, so it’s clearly not in the form of a response, generated by one of those last minute “wow, we’d better get an answer on this one too” meetings. And the battle for Florida has not truly been joined, which is normally the only time one would hear the candidates address the Cuban situation, pandering to voters in South Florida. One is tempted to suggest this is an example of good leadership, identifying an issue and opening the path to a solution… but we will refrain from making so bold a pronouncement.
Rather, the question is, is Obama right? Fifty years of American foreign policy says he is not. It’s been the universal policy since the 1950s that the existence of the Cuban government in its current form is intolerable. To that end, businesses are forbidden to have dealings with Cuba, former residents are restricted and their activities, and so forth. However, that same fifty years of foreign policy has, in summation, failed outright. Fidel Castro has not been weakened but rather has become more entrenched, and provided with a convenient scapegoat for all Cuba’s ills - while the Cuban people endure with less than they might have. At this point in history, the embargo seems in some ways less a piece of useful strategic policy than it does pure obstinance. Even Obama is not immune; only promising that “if a post-Fidel government begins opening Cuba to democratic change, the United States (the president working with Congress) is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last five decades.” So there it is: in Senator Obama’s policy, Fidel Castro’s death is a necessary condition for progress. And then… well, it depends.
Obama’s “unrestricted rights to visit family” is fine as far as it goes, and something of an easy sell. Who will stand forth and deny Cuban expatriates the ability to visit, say, an ailing grandmother? Unfortunately, Obama did not take the opportunity to make the logical extension - unrestricted rights for all Americans to visit Cuba. Controversial? Yes. Indefensible? No. Senator Obama’s fueling his campaign with the language of hope and the promise to go beyond the politics of his predecessors. Here’s a perfect chance.
Topics: Barack Obama, Democrats |
September 4th, 2007 at 10:58 am
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