- Aug 2, 2001
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John McCain -- Out of touch with Cuban Americans?
So far, nearly 50 yrs of American policy of isolation in response to Castro has left Castro comfortably in charge of Cuba for his long life, and allowed him to hand off control to his brother. Castro will eventually die in office, possibly under the next president, perhaps its time to review of Cuba policy and take some different tacks. Opening up Cuba to American influence, culture, goods and businesses may accomplish what McCain's Cold War thinking has failed to produce in a half century. The Castro regime has been able to survive the passage of time in part due to the cocoon we have encased the fledgling island nation in IMO.
When Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama told a Miami gathering he would lift restrictions on travel to communist Cuba by Cuban Americans, he was met with cheers.
Just a few years ago, his comments to the Cuban American National Foundation on Friday might have triggered a riot.
But Miami's Little Havana, heartland of exile opposition to former Cuban President Fidel Castro since his revolution nearly 50 years ago, has undergone sweeping changes.
...At a town hall meeting on Monday, McCain drew loud jeers from a staunchly Republican crowd when he said that Obama would "sit down unconditionally for a presidential meeting with Raul Castro -- an unconditional meeting."
In response, however, Obama said talks he has suggested might occur with Cuba's new leader, Raul Castro, who took over from his brother Fidel Castro this year, would only involve the tough but direct diplomacy he has said he might engage in with other problem nations.
"I know what the easy thing to do is for American politicians when he or she comes down to Miami. Every four years they come down, they talk tough and then they go back to Washington and nothing changes in Cuba," he said on Friday.
"That's what John McCain did the other day. He joined the parade of politicians who make the same empty promises year after year, decade after decade."
His stance might just strike a chord.
According to Bendixen & Associates, 72 percent of Cuban Americans questioned answered "yes" in a survey two years ago when asked if they would favor U.S. negotiations with a new Cuban government that showed an interest in an improvement in relations with the Cuban exile community.
So far, nearly 50 yrs of American policy of isolation in response to Castro has left Castro comfortably in charge of Cuba for his long life, and allowed him to hand off control to his brother. Castro will eventually die in office, possibly under the next president, perhaps its time to review of Cuba policy and take some different tacks. Opening up Cuba to American influence, culture, goods and businesses may accomplish what McCain's Cold War thinking has failed to produce in a half century. The Castro regime has been able to survive the passage of time in part due to the cocoon we have encased the fledgling island nation in IMO.