Obama: Two reactions from Cuba

Progreso Semanal/RPA

HAVANA – For the first time in decades, Cubans watched President Barack Obama’s speech live on Educational Channel 2, which broadcasts the programs of multinational network TeleSUR live.

Before about 800,000 people gathered outside the Capitol building, and following a swearing-in in private hours earlier, President Obama began his second term with a 20-minute speech that provoked enthusiasm and pessimism in almost equal amounts, initial reports say.

Obama spoke about need for unity and the economy (“This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience”) among topics that sweeten or embitter, according to whoever is listening.

Radio Progreso Alternativa/Progreso Semanal obtained the first impressions of two Cuban academicians:

Jesús Arboleya:

“The first impression one gets from Obama’s speech is that – aside from his rhetoric, to which we are used – he posits some concepts that, no doubt, express a renovative discourse in tone with the reality being lived in that country. It would be best to analyze its content with greater care and I plan to do so in this website in the next several days.

“Nevertheless, I should make clear that Obama’s problem – something that characterized his first term – often was the contradiction between his discourse and his actions.

“Therefore, the most I can tell you now is, again, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Esteban Morales:

“My first impression is that Obama makes plain his interest in changing some policies and paying attention to several domestic and foreign affairs, because he knows that, from both angles, the situation is very complex.

“Everything that he couldn’t finish – the unresolved wars, for example – several relevant social problems, Hispanic immigration, the state of the economy along with decisive and current social problems, such as gun control, suggests this.

“On a first reading of his speech, I get the impression that he might – or would like to – readjust several elements in a general context wherein he’d like to produce a second term that’s more active than the first, in certain directions.

“I believe that we could hold out some hope. Positive hope, of course.”

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