Obama Plays to Miami Hardcore on Cuba
By Circles Robinson
HAVANA TIMES, May 13 — President Obama made it clear on a Miami TV station that nobody should hold their breath about normalized US-Cuba relations as long as he is in office.
“For us to have the kind of normal relations we have with other countries, we’ve got to see significant changes from the Cuban government and we just have not seen that yet,” said Obama in an interview with Univision Channel 23.
Both Democratic and Republican Party officials and candidates receive sizeable campaign donations from those Miami exile groups who favor maintaining a Cold War policy in an effort to provoke regime change in Cuba.
In place for over 50 years, the policy includes an economic blockade that has greatly hindered the Cuban economy and a travel ban keeping ordinary US citizens from visiting Cuba.
Reuters quoted Obama as saying “If you think about it, Castro came into power before I was born – he’s still there and he basically has the same system when the rest of the world has recognized that the system doesn’t work.”
The Cuban government has repeatedly said it will continue “updating” its socialist system at the pace and scope decided on by the island’s leaders, not banking on any approval from Washington.
Obama says “the rest of the world has recognised that the system doesn’t work “. Has Obama become the self appointed spokesperson for the rest of the world ?
I think Bill Mc Laughlin sums it up in his post that Obama is pandering for votes.
He is after all seeking re election at a cost thought to be in the region of 1 Billion U S Dollars.
His poularity was diminishing until the ‘assassination ‘ of Osama Bin Laden.
Perhaps Obama should scrutinize what is meant by the term ‘Land of The Free’.
Terence
The usual pandering for votes to the Miami hardline crowd. What hypocritical crap…do we insist on fair and open elections, respect for dissent, etc as preconditions for doing business with Saudi Arabia , China, Egypt, etc? What our leaders conveniently ignore is that our “Cuban Policy” is also an “American Policy” – one that deprives those in the “land of the free” of their constitutional right to travel….a right enjoyed by virtually all other nations…how dare they! And far from hurting Castro (is this really our job!) we contribute to his popularity and simultaneously impoverish the Cuban people…so much for the good neighbor policy. Very sadly, we thought Obama was better than that.