Firestorm of opinions on Obama
Presidential
candidate Barack Obama visited Miami last week and took on the Cuban
American right — a group who has dominated that city’s politics
for years. In an op-ed piece for The Miami Herald, the Illinois
senator challenged conventional thinking when he called for the
freedom of all Cuban Americans to travel freely to the island and
help out their families economically with as much money as they
deemed fit in. The reaction to Obama’s comments were instant and
from around the nation. Most were positive on Obama’s suggestions.
Recent
polls show a shift in attitudes of Cuban Americans, especially when
it comes to family travel. Political columnists and pundits
considered the Obama move bold, but some compared it to a strategic
chess move in the game of presidential politics.
Because
of the importance we give this topic, Progreso Weekly has excerpted
numerous articles and editorials that appeared in publications from
around the U.S. — most come with links to the complete versions of
the articles in English.
Obama’s
right on Cuba
The
candidate’s call to end the U.S. ban on travel and remittances to
Cuba should go even further.
Excerpts
from an editorial that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on August
25.
Illinois
Sen. Barack Obama, determined to cast himself as the Democratic
presidential candidate most open to new ideas on foreign policy,
raised plenty of eyebrows recently when he proclaimed that he would
be willing to meet personally with such rogue figures as Cuban
dictator Fidel Castro. But that was nothing compared with the opinion
article he published Tuesday in the Miami Herald saying Cuban
Americans should have unrestricted rights to travel and send
remittances to the island…
The astonishing thing here is
that after the U.S. has tried for nearly 50 years to force a regime
change in Cuba by way of economic embargo with no success whatsoever,
Obama is one of the few presidential contenders who dares to suggest
that it’s time to try something different…
Regardless
of the political implications, Obama is clearly right — the only
problem is, his proposal doesn’t go far enough. The travel ban should
be lifted for everybody, not just Cuban immigrants…
Score one
for Obama.
Reach
out to Cuba
Our
position: At least Barack Obama is willing to admit the embargo isn’t
working. Anyone else?
This
editorial appeared in The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel on Aug. 23.
The
easy out in dealing with Cuba is to throw up an ideological wall and
isolate yourself from practical politics…
Presidential
candidate Barack Obama offers a different approach, and a sensible
one:
Reach
out to Cuba to "advance peaceful political and economic reform
on the island." The plan calls for concessions on both
sides…
Mr. Obama offers a dramatic philosophical shift —
away from the hard-line Bush administration, most Republican
contenders, and even Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.
He
is taking on an issue that everyone is running away from.
We’ve
seen how well the status quo has worked for five decades.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed23207aug23,0,6830571.story
Obama’s
foreign policy reset
By
Michael Duffy
Excerpts
taken from Time Magazine of Aug. 23, 2007.
Once
questions have been raised about your foreign policy judgment, it’s
not easy to put the genie back in the bottle…
But try you
must, which is why Barack Obama’s latest foreign policy offering,
regarding how to open doors with Cuba as the Castro era ends, is at
least as much about repairing his image for Democratic voters as it
is about reshaping U.S. relations with Havana. Not that it doesn’t
deserve a careful look in its own right…
But Obama’s latest
gambit isn’t only about recasting his image — he is also laying down
a trademark political bet here. Normally, Cuban policy is never much
more than a wash for Democrats: so many Cuban Americans register and
vote as Republicans that there isn’t much point in trying to woo them
with policy proposals, unless they are hardline, which usually
results in
pandering charges. But Obama seems to see an opening
here others don’t: he appears to be making, with this proposal, a
pitch for younger voters and newly arrived Cuban immigrants, who have
more liberal attitudes about rules regarding money and
travel…
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1655613,00.html
Hillary
and Rudy share tired view on Cuba policy
By
Albor Ruiz
Excerpts
taken from the New York Daily News of August 26.
Surprising
as it may be, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, New York’s’ own
presidential contenders, have something in common: Both support
policies on Cuba that have failed for 46 years…
Yet
both candidates may be barking up the wrong tree. Every recent poll
shows that a majority of Cuban-Americans and a whopping two-thirds of
all voters nationally agree that the current Cuba policy has failed…
The
travel restrictions imposed by President Bush distinguish themselves
for their unnecessary cruelty and political shortsightedeness…
THE
CHANGE in mood about Cuba among voters has not escaped another
prominent Democratic presidential hopeful, Barack Obama…
Obama
would allow Cuban-Americans to visit Cuba and send financial support
to their families as often as they want to. According to him, that
would help bring democratic change in Cuba.
One
thing is certain: After half a century of failure, we need a new
approach to our relations with Cuba. And lifting the draconian family
travel restrictions is a great way to start changing the
anachronistic policies now in place.
Obama
shows good foreign policy judgment on Cuba
By
Paul Hogarth
Excerpt
taken from OpEd News of August 23.
One
of the media narratives going around lately is that Barack Obama
lacks the foreign policy “experience” to be President. So
after he wrote an op-ed where he said we should loosen our embargo on
Cuba, CNN was quick to gloat that he had caused “another foreign
policy stir.” But Obama is absolutely right about this issue:
why should politicians pander to a fringe group of right-wing
extremists when it comes to our policy with Cuba, just because
Florida has 27 electoral votes? Hillary’s response to Obama –
that we should maintain the status quo – reinforced her bad foreign
policy judgment, and is telling given that her husband signed the
Helms-Burton_Act of 1996. Far from showing a naivete in foreign
policy, Obama’s stance proves his ability to be the candidate of
change…
PRO-CON:
Is Obama’s Cuba policy reasonable? YES
Excerpt
of a Kansas City Star editorial of August 23.
Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to change the United
States’ Cuba policy. That’s needed.
he
U.S. boycott is the story of nearly 50 years of failed policy, so it
would be wise to change it. Not to support the regime, but to gain
influence when old leaders are on their way out…
In
Cuban policy, Obama is both specific and sensible, while Bush there,
as in Iraq, has demonstrated his ability not to learn from what does
not work.
