(and a chance to grab that swing Florida vote!)
I had wondered about Obama’s saying, back in December, whether Obama was considering normalizing relationships or not with Cuba. I even had hope that by closing Gitmo (which has not yet been done, remember) it would aid in that effort.
‘I will maintain the embargo,’ Obama told a gathering in Miami. ‘It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice.’
Obama came under heavy criticism from the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, who accused the leading Democratic candidate of taking a soft position toward the regime dominated by the Castro brothers.
But Obama stuck by his pledge to hold unconditional talks with Cuban leader Raul Castro, but only after ‘careful preparation’ and a ‘a clear agenda’ that would help ensure discussion would produce real reforms in Cuba.
‘As president I would be willing to lead the diplomacy at a time and place of my choosing,’ Obama said, accusing McCain of distorting his position.
Consider this little demographic factoid: (my bold)
64%
The proportion of Hispanic-origin people who are of Mexican background. Another approximately 10 percent are of Puerto Rican background, with about 3 percent each of Cuban, Salvadoran and Dominican origins. The remainder are of some other Central American, South American or other Hispanic or Latino origins.Roughly half of the nation’s Dominicans live in New York City, with about half of the nation’s Cubans residing in Miami-Dade County, Fla.
Dario Moreno, Director, Metropolitan Center, Associate Professor, Political Science at Florida International University offered an in-depth report of the disproportionate Political Power of Exiled Cubans.
This group handed Florida to Reagan and both Bushes, with 80% coming out strongly for Republicans in this swing State.
In a move that would elate both Liberals (who see it as a step toward Normalcy) and Neo-Cons (who want that Wealthy-Capitalist influence back in Cuba) Obama has made it possible for funding and travel from ONLY this Republican demographic to interact with Cuba.
Brilliant, but not in a good way.
Can you say “duped”???
Lets face a bit of reality here.
From the first wave in 1959, the Elites that were deeply in bed with our own Mafia’s casinos and Resorts, ran the Sugar Plantations, and co-opted to United Fruit thought they were coming here temporarily until that Pesky People’s Revolution was put down.
A U of M Economic Study on Cuban Economic History reported…
U.S.-based firms remained dominant in
most major sectors of the Cuban economy
until the revolution of 1959. The largest in-
dustries were sugar and its derivatives (e.g.,
rum), tourism, and tobacco, but other signifi-
cant sectors included utilities (the AT&T-
owned Cuban Telephone Company had only
an English name), transportation, and min-
ing. Regulations modeled on southern U.S.
Jim Crow laws were imposed, and Havana,
the Cuban capital, became infamous for pro-
viding U.S. vacationers pleasures forbidden
at home. Cuban governments in this period,
notoriously corrupt and compliant to U.S. in-
terests, culminated in the brutal dictatorship
of Fulgencio Batista.
In 1961, when the Bay of Pigs showed to be an abject failure, and after ’62 with the missile crisis averted, wave two came on. The Elites realized that as their business became Nationalized, they could no longer hold Power as the Ruling Class.
Despite our embargo causing a shock and reduction of Cuban’s citizenry to produce income, by 1986 Cuba’s income inequality index was the lowest in the World.
So now, all President Obama has done is re-fund the Neo-Cons in Cuba and allow the People who support overthrowing the Castro’s entrance into their Country.
Have any of you considered what will happen when one of these Cuban-Americans fall into trouble in today’s Cuba, for inciting governmental overthrow?
No, if Obama wanted to change direction with Cuba, he would allow any of us to see what Cuba is like, he would have lifted the economic embargo completely. All he has done is baffle us with bullshit, while ENSURING that swing vote to be HIS next election.
This is NOT to say all Cubans are neo-cons. At least 20% in Florida have not voted with that Elitist bloc. This is not to say Cuba has not been horrifyingly oppressive of its GLBT community. It HAS.
But SERIOUSLY?
We have seen how well trickle-down elitist Economics work, and now the US is second only to Mexico in Economic DISPARITY.
So now we trickle that influence BACK into Cuba, in a fairly obvious, yet underhanded way to a country that has the most economic EQUALITY.
Because, you know, they would never, especially NOW, let the Average American go there to see if Communism, Nationalization or Socialism might be good for us.
Nah, it is more like paving the way for UNREST in Cuba, to show us how bad and scary Communism, Nationalization or Socialism is.
Rachel Maddow seems to concur. I mean 50 years have proven how well Embargo and restrictions of travel works.
Colour me unimpressed with this action.
Colour me un-duped by shiny sound bytes.
In fact colour me even vaguely cognizant of history, demographics and political trends….