Obama, give me a break!

I didn’t hear Obama’s speech to CANF today, because honestly I can’t stand to listen to the guy’s rhetoric but I saw that Ernesto at Penultimos Dias posted a link to the transcript. I was intrigued by Ernesto’s comment:

I, who wouldn’t for the Democrats, think that Obama’s speech is a giant step forward in the political understanding of the Cuban problem (in the North American context).

So I read the speech and I can’t see what the big fuss is about.

1. Hugo Chavez was elected by Venezuelans in 1998, more than two years BEFORE George W. Bush took office. Hugo Chavez has always been a demagogue. To blame Bush for Chavez’ demagoguery is dishonest and weak.
2. Mexico (and the U.S) has profited greatly from NAFTA, which many Democrats seem to be against.
3. Obama and his colleagues have blocked a free trade agreement with Colombia and Obama acknowledges that he voted against CAFTA.
4. Obama says we must be strong advocates for democracy but the leaders in Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua which he criticizes were all democratically elected.
5. Obama says politicians come to Miami every four years and talk tough about Cuba and then do nothing. Well what makes him any different? Why should we believe him? He can’t even keep his position straight. At least McCain has ALWAYS been in favor of the embargo. If anyone is tailoring his message for the audience it’s Obama.
6. Obama says: “My policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: Libertad. And the road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba’s political prisoners, the rights of free speech, a free press and freedom of assembly; and it must lead to elections that are free and fair.” Well that sounds a lot like what President Bush said on Wednesday and has been saying for 8 years.

So what’s new about Obama’s approach? Now that he claims to be for the embargo, the only difference between him and McCain on Cuba is that he would remove the travel and remittance restrictions with regards to Cuban-Americans. Is that a huge difference? Is that going to bring democracy to Cuba? Dollar diplomacy, really?
Consider that one can send unlimited sums of money to Cuba through Canadian companies like this one. And consider that you can get to Cuba from the Bahamas, Mexico or almost any other third country and consider that I have NEVER read about ONE CASE in which OFAC fined a Cuban-American for making a family trip to Cuba outside of the current restrictions. Is this the grand policy shift that will make Cuba democratic, legalizing something that people are already doing? Going back to policy that we had just four years ago that didn’t result in Cuban liberty back then either?
Of course not. That’s more of the same political gamesmanship Obama accuses his opponent of.
I take away something else completely different from the speech. Obama articulates well that Latin America is a mess. I believe he is misguided however in placing the blame at George W. Bush’s feet. It strikes me that he seems to think that if the U.S. had acted differently during the last eight years then the demagogues in Latin America wouldn’t have been elected. That’s a little too much for me. Latin Americans have a long tradition of electing or otherwise backing caudillos and anti-American demagogues regardless of who is in power in the U.S. And once Chavez took over in Venezuela and began greasing the skids for his buddies in other countries with petrodollars there’s little the U.S. could do to save Latin Americans from themselves.
UPDATE: A friend just reminded me that Obama’s Latin America adviser is Greg Craig. If that sounds familiar, it should. This was Bill Clinton’s attorney that represented Juan Miguel Gonzalez during the Elian tragedy.

16 thoughts on “Obama, give me a break!”

  1. He also had the Haitian oligarch’s the Mevs family as a client; at the time that Clinton
    was pilloring Bush for not being sufficiently
    pro-Aristide. It follows that former Clinton
    staffers that defect to Obama; is because they
    consider Hillary insufficiently liberal. Lake,
    Richardson, Reich et al are typical of the brand.

  2. I read the transcript too and you’re grasping for straws. Obama spoke eloquently and essentially his message was, “nothing has worked over the past 40+ years and its time to turn the page.” All those Cuban-Americans who blindly vote Republican are being hoodwinked. McCain comes down for a cafecito and you idiots just eat it up. Republicans offer nothing new in the fight for Cuban independence and US influence in the Americas HAS declined in the past 7 years. Chavez may have been elected in 98 but his influence has grown by leaps and bounds since 01.
    I’m actually curious as to why this is such a big f-ing deal to you guys at babalu. Why are you all so scared to have our President meet w/ Raul, Fidel or whomever? What’s wrong, too macho to sit down and talk? That’s pretty sad.
    You know what? I smell something…you smell something? I smell…PUSSY.

  3. Hey fuckhead, what’s the grand strategy then that Obama has for bringing democracy to Cuba? He says in the speech that he’s not going to get rid of the embargo. Only remove the remittance and travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans. That’s the ONLY difference between his policy (today) and McCain’s policy and Bush’s for that matter. Any Cuban who thinks removal of those hood ornament restrictions will hasten a transition to democracy would really be voting blindly. And they’d be voting for a party that has betrayed them too many times in the past.
    Fuck you pussy.

  4. DJ
    “Why are you all so scared to have our President meet w/ Raul, Fidel or whomever? What’s wrong, too macho to sit down and talk? That’s pretty sad. You know what? I smell something…you smell something? I smell…PUSSY.”
    How very liberal of you! Like most of your kind all your neurons are short-circuited so I’m going to try to explain it in a way that even someone as handicapped as you can understand.
    For starters we are not scared, but we are disgusted at the thought that the president of the United States would meet with murderers. Murderers NEVER elected into office… His Majesty, King raul is NOT a legitimate president Got it! If the president of the United States met with the Cuban regent it would give his reign LEGITIMACY!
    If you are so keen on monarchial succession then why not suggest to President Bush to pass the presidency over to his brother Jeb and let’s just forget the whole election process.
    As to Obama speaking eloquently… Who gives a damn! Barack Hussein Osama Obama doesn’t walk the talk. I’ll take McCain and the cafecito in a nanosecond before I take a che carrying card member.
    You know what? I smell something…you smell something? I smell…CHIT FOR BRAINS.

  5. I know that this topic is taboo, but…..
    Has the CANF totally sold out? What the heck is wrong with them? As a Cuban-American they do not speak for me.

  6. the AntiAmerican sentiment in Latin America have nothing to do with Bush. They date back to the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s when the CIA infiltrated, toppled and supported some of their governments. Those actions will never be forgotten by the gifted leftist demagogues that exist from Mexico down and will always keep an anti american sentiment alive.
    For Pete’s sake, how does he excuse Europe’s anti American sentiment even after the US rebuild Europe and gave everyone back their territories?

  7. Firefly,
    You hit the nail on the head with your comment:
    “As to Obama speaking eloquently… Who gives a damn! Barack Hussein Osama Obama doesn’t walk the talk. I’ll take McCain and the cafecito in a nanosecond before I take a che carrying card member.”
    Barack Hussein Obama is a flip flopping bullshit artist empty of substance that I don’t trust as far as I can piss because it is so obvious to me that he has a hidden anti-American agenda that if he gets elected is going to bring great harm to the United States of America.
    I also take McCain and his cafecito over the anti-American bullshit artist.
    Plus having Greg Craig in his staff in charge of Latin-American affairs is further proof that reinforces my suspicions about him and his hidden agenda towards Cuba.

  8. Eh, I’m sure I’ll get hassled for this, but here goes:
    Henry wrote:
    “Hey fuckhead, what’s the grand strategy then that Obama has for bringing democracy to Cuba? He says in the speech that he’s not going to get rid of the embargo. Only remove the remittance and travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans. That’s the ONLY difference between his policy (today) and McCain’s policy and Bush’s for that matter. Any Cuban who thinks removal of those hood ornament restrictions will hasten a transition to democracy would really be voting blindly. And they’d be voting for a party that has betrayed them too many times in the past.”
    So your reason for not voting for Obama is that despite the fact his policy is no different than the politicians you support, his party’s ostensible historical legacy of betraying you is paramount to any such policy? I’m sorry, but all politicians flip-flop. Their goal is to get elected. He has taken a clear stance with this speech that he will not be able to retract. I understand hating his tax policy, but this is a stretch. I will not argue, however, that your label for DJ Frusteration was a misnomer.
    Firefly wrote:
    “How very liberal of you! Like most of your kind all your neurons are short-circuited so I’m going to try to explain it in a way that even someone as handicapped as you can understand.
    For starters we are not scared, but we are disgusted at the thought that the president of the United States would meet with murderers. Murderers NEVER elected into office… His Majesty, King raul is NOT a legitimate president Got it! If the president of the United States met with the Cuban regent it would give his reign LEGITIMACY!
    If you are so keen on monarchial succession then why not suggest to President Bush to pass the presidency over to his brother Jeb and let’s just forget the whole election process.
    As to Obama speaking eloquently… Who gives a damn! Barack Hussein Osama Obama doesn’t walk the talk. I’ll take McCain and the cafecito in a nanosecond before I take a che carrying card member.
    You know what? I smell something…you smell something? I smell…CHIT FOR BRAINS.”
    What was your thought process here firefly? “I’m going to reply to one bigoted, ill-conceited response with another, bigoted, ill-conceited response?” All liberals have short-circuited neurons? And Republicans are angelic?? I feel like I could rewrite Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” solely with names of corrupted or scandel-ridden Republicans in the past 5 years alone. It would go something like this: “Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Tom Delay, Karl Rove, Mark Foley, Kenneth Lay, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Bob Ney, Pat Robertson, Ted Haggard, Larry Craig… chorus!”
    Point taken about monarchs and legitimacy, but he does have monarchal legitimacy, even if in our eyes that is no form of legitimacy. For the Cuban people, it still holds. I do not think that meeting with Raúl would give credence to his regime – it could in fact do the opposite if Obama embarrasses Raúl as the “civilized westerner.” To give a not so terribly obscure reference, think Colonel Saito & Colonel Nicholson in the Bridge over the River Kwai… (yes, I know Nicholson kind of screwed up in the end.. 🙂 )
    Lastly, I don’t think one campaign office in the whole country hanging a Che flag means Obama supports Che. If you’ve ever worked on a campaign, you know just how much autonomy branches have in their structure and practices. They work like bureaucracies, and one individual’s Che flag may be indicative of his support for both Obama & Che, but please don’t be naive enough to think that Obama approved of such a thing.
    La ventanita.. you are very much correct, but it still is important to note the profound influence that Bush has had in influencing South American policy, continuing the trend of instability wrought by Bush’s late 20th century predecessors. Democratic & Republican Presidents alike are to blame, though, for these policies.

  9. Mike,
    So your reason for not voting for Obama is that despite the fact his policy is no different than the politicians you support, his party’s ostensible historical legacy of betraying you is paramount to any such policy?
    No my reasons for not voting for him include:
    1. I’m a Republican
    2. I’m a conservative
    3. I’m for the embargo and when he wasn’t running for president he was against the embargo.
    4. The Democratic party is against the embargo. The last time Rangel proposed an amendment to loosen sanctions on Cuba 70% of congressional Democrats voted with him and 90% of congressional Republicans voted against him.
    Given my position on all of the above what reason would I have to vote for the most liberal Senator in the chamber? What does the Democratic party have to offer vis-a-vis Cuba besides appeasement and Borron y Cuenta Nueva?
    The point is that despite his positioning himself as tough on Cuba, Obama would be weak on Cuba. Just like other Democrats before him.

  10. Oh and leftists support Obama. If that’s not news to you then what can I tell you. On his campaign web site I found at least 15 user generated pages that praised or quoted Che.

  11. Obama is lying like there is no tomorrow! He is the wolf in sheep’s clothing! Never, Never, never! trust a democrat – especially when it comes to Cuba! I know that might sound very one sided, but too bad – when it comes to Cuban issues there is no middle ground – there is no black and white. You are either for the tyranny, or you are against it! With the Democrats and the Oba-munists you know they are peeing in their pants to get to go to Havana or open up dialog! I mean how can you trust a political party that has given us some of the greatest traitors, un Americans, and complete A-holes like McGovern, Dukakis, Mondale, Rangle, Maxine Waters, Jose Serrano, James “I hate Jews” Carter, Gore, the Clintons…all of these pukes have never stood up to communism – just look at Ted Kennedy and how he contacted the KGB in the 1980s in order to defeat Reagan!
    CANF has also become a Democrat party front.

  12. Let be clear I would vote Republican, Libertarian and Constitution Party before voting for a Democrrat but the Obamaphobia is a bit over the top. On Henry ‘s points:
    1. True Hugo got there before W, but our commitment for democracy was questioned by our gleeful acceptance of the short lived coup. True, I was jumping for joy and hoping that they had shot the bastard, but I don’t work for the State Dept. Otto Reich screwed the pooch on that one.
    2. Henry nails it.
    3. Henry nails it again.
    4. So what are you saying that we shouldn’t be for democracy? Isn’t that what we are fighting for in Cuba? I’m confused, but I’m not that bright, so it’s ok.
    5. First off McCain used to be ambivalent on the embargo and this was WAY before he was the “maverick” Republican. In fact his support for the embargo makes little sense when juxtaposed with his efforts to lift the sanctions against Vietnam. If he was able to forgive the Vietnamese for what they did to him, what does he have against the Cuban gov’t? Technically we can take Obama at his word because he did not talk tough on Cuba and I am certain things will change in our relations with the regime during his tenure.
    5. Doesn’t everybody say it?
    Overall I was relatively surprised by Obama’s speech it wasn’t half as horrifying as I expected. As for those expressing dismay at CANF for this about face you forget that the master pol, Jorge Mas Canosa flirted with Bill Clinton and even testified once with Jesse Jackson. Ninoska and the other loonies forget that.

  13. cardinal,
    on point 4, what i was getting at is that obama offers no solution about what to when anti-american despots are elected. i mean its easy to say what they are and its easy to blame bush but its bot so easy to say what one would do facing the same situation. obama’s answer to everything is the iraq war. if we hadn’t fought the iraq war then we wouldn’t have these problems. really? is it that simple?
    5. no. not everyone says it. democrat politicians say it because they are the ones that are trying to close the message gap with cuban americans and “take the cuba issue off the table.”

  14. 4. I’m with Fareed Zakaria on this one. I have a problem with democracy when it tends towards majoritarianism and becomes an illiberal democracy without protection for the minority. I see what you mean by point 4, because I really don’t disagree with it.
    6. I’m just tired of hearing it…or some variation there of. I’m almost to the point that I don’t want to listen to any politician coming down anymore.

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