obama was against the Cuban embargo before he was for it.
A YouTube video shows obama in 2004 saying “it’s time to end the embargo” and “the Cuban embargo has failed.”
While campaigning, obama promised “real change in Cuba.”
While pandering to locals in a May 2008 Miami, Florida campaign appearance, where he “sprinkled his speech with Spanish words and phrases,” obama criticized Senator John McCain for “embracing failed policies” in the context of American/Cuban relations.
obama called for a “’new alliance of the Americas,” where neighbors such as Cuba would not be treated as “junior partners” in some idealistic socialist world order.
In this vein, obama promised that as president he would appoint a Special Envoy to the Americas to work with our southern neighbors, especially Cuba, in improving relations and in the end doing away with the embargo that has harmed the people of Cuba more than it has punished the government of Castro.
Our southern neighbors still await this appointment while the Middle East, Afghanistan/Pakistan, Sudan, and Haiti, to name a few, have been assigned special envoys by obama (makes you wonder what the hell Hillary Clinton is doing as Secretary of State).
Oh, there were rumors, such as Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd being offered the position. Might be logical, he will be out of a job in November.
obama said President George Bush’s policies were not “advancing freedom in Cuba.”
Currently, obama embraces the majority of those same policies toward Cuba…with the same effects.
McCain vowed to maintain the embargo until its communist government makes moves toward accepting human rights and democratic elections.
While castigating President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, and Senator Hillary Clinton (and anyone else who wasn’t Cuban) for setting “preconditions” on meeting with enemy leaders, such as Raul Castro of Cuba, obama was setting his own.
obama has maintained the embargo - as president he hasn’t even called for its review by Congress - saying Cuba has not made the necessary positive steps by which he would consider ending the embargo.
obama has, however, made the traditional embargo policy less restrictive, his version of the carrot and stick game I assume, but that has been seen as doing too little.
obama campaigned on the ideal that when he becomes president his talk and hug approach to foreign policy would make despot states like Cuba change their ways and move toward democracy and an acceptance of human rights.
NPR released a story in August of this year which reported that international opinion was that the Castro regime has not, despite the hugs and talk from obama, made significant moves on its “ugly human rights record.
Thus, it appears obama’s policies with respect to Cuba are having no positive affect.
``It's important for the United States not just to talk to its friends, but also to talk to its enemies,'' obama said in a Texas debate against Senator Hillary Clinton.
The President of Cuba’s National Assembly sought to come to the U.S. to talk in October 2009…obama’s government denied him a visa.
Actions often matter more than words.
obama’s government has maintained Cuba on the list of foreign states that are sponsors of terrorism, saying in August of this year that “Havana provides safe haven to terrorists…”
More recently, the Trading With The Enemy Act (TWEA), which restricts trade, travel, and economic ventures with Cuba (Cuba is the only country this Act currently mentions), was due to expire on September 14, 2010.
obama extended the Act against Cuba on September 2, 2010 (Federal Register: September 7, 2010 Volume 75, Number 172,Presidential Documents, pp. 54457).
Yet on the website Cuba Travel USA, it is George W. Bush that is pictured with the label, “enemy of freedom to travel.”
Liberals around the globe have been calling on Cuba’s behalf for obama to lift the sanctions that have hurt the Cuban families of our US citizens.
Amnesty International called on obama not to extend TWEA, calling the sanctions against Cuba the “United States’ single most ridiculous and demonstrably failed foreign policy.”
Got nowhere with that.
Writing for the Washington Times, Eli Lake said that human rights groups are beginning to question obama’s “commitment” to their issues; “From a civil liberties perspective, [obama’s] report card shows an incomplete,” said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU.
The National Foreign Trade Council has called on obama to open Cuba to all U.S. travelers and let U.S. companies work on the island.
Carlos Lazo, U.S. National Guardsmen, Cuban activist, and member of the board of directors of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, said “it is time to eliminate all restrictions on travel to Cuba for all Americans.”
Getting nowhere with that.
Steve Clemons, noting that Cuba, at this time, does not represent a great political prize for obama, yet urging him to change his policies, said, “Drop the counterproductive, compulsive obsessiveness with ‘conditionality.’ It does not work and undermines American interests.”
"When I lived in Cuba, they didn't let me leave the country," said Jose, a Bank of America employee who arrived here from Havana five years ago, who gave only his first name. "Now that I live in Miami, they don't let me go there. The two governments seem the same."
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