Barrack Obama has a great idea. Dismantling this horrid law will infuse Cuba with the support of the almighty american dollar and feed families. Lets also beam satilite TV and the internet into North Korea. If we want these countries to believe our intentions are just then we need to make a hard first contact, an overwhelming show of good faith.

Here's a comment from me, a Cuban

The old Cubans in Miami do not really want to regime to fall because they will lose the leverage they currently out of ignorant Cubans. In Miami, there are many Radio stations and TV Shows that ALL THEY DO is talk about Cuba and Fidel Castro. Those people are the ones in power in Miami. If Cuba changes, they will have nothing to discuss, no news of that sort to cover, they will lose their power; they will be history. In the history of the development of all civilizations, it has been seen all the time how power elites WILL ALWAYS the most reluctant to change.

We Cubans just want to be able to help our families there. We don't care if they say the money goes to Fidel Castro. We get the satisfaction that our family there was at least able to eat a good piece of beef stake. We also want to be able to visit our country more often. Let me clarify that, the restriction on travel is US Treasury thing, not a Cuban law. From Miami, Cuba is just 90 miles away, yet it is much farther.

Barack Obama mentions: "the transformative message carried there by Cuban Americans." and "The primary means we have of encouraging positive change in Cuba today is to help the Cuban people become less dependent on the Castro regime in fundamental ways,". This is very logical, it's not rocket science, and he did not come up with it; but I respect him for having the guts to say it when he knows he will anger the Florida Republicans (Not all, but the great majority). If we are saying that we want change in Cuba, why don’t let Cubans travel more often there. Word-of-mouth is a very powerful advertising campaign. This shows how much hypocrisy and malice exists in many Cubans here in the United States.

It may sound grotesque, but the truth is that only when the old establishment dies (Fidel Castro, his close old-age followers, and some of the old Cubans here in US), Cuba will not be completely free because of the restraints and hindrances placed by these people.

That is the truth.

The Audacity of Media versus The Audacity of Hope: Round I

I am 35 years old and I’ve never engaged in politics in my life. I have never even written a letter to the Editor. Being on CNN's ticker is the first exposure i've had to politics.

Last Sunday, at 3 p.m. in Monrovia Library’s card shack, without air conditioning but taking solace from the shade of great oaks maybe as old as our Constitution, I met perhaps ten other people who had gathered under the same circumstance. It was the first Democratic volunteer meeting in town to support Senator Obama’s bid for Presidency.

Here was a Physician’s assistant fed up with healthcare, a political analyst tired of seeing numbers instead of results, two disgruntled college students, a second grade teacher heartsick of seeing children left behind, a mapper of the human genome, a nurse, and others I sadly did not get to meet.

One thing was clear… we are all as inspired about politics as we have never been. Why? Why ignore what your paper and all big media has said about the supposed inevitability of a certain female Democratic candidate? It was Sunday, why not surf?

The energy in the room answered that. Our unlikely presence said it all. We were there because Senator Obama hands down has the best chance to inspire the entire country in the same way. He’s single-handedly creating a new Democratic party. He can win overwhelmingly while others scrape by.

But not all were neophytes. There were two other volunteers… an elderly black couple, retired yet lively. The first campaign the woman said she worked was for Franklin Delanor Roosevelt. They survived Jim Crow and “poll taxes” and baseball bats and have never looked back. That lively old lady had a sparkle as she proclaimed she was there because she had once again, as she had so long ago… found hope for the young.

I would invite anyone who agrees with her to join us under the oaks of Monrovia ’s Library Park next Sunday, in the card shack opposite the Library doors, at 3 p.m. She, and all of us, will be there to greet you. And we’ll get something done for a change.

Sincerely,

Lance

Eisenhower
Kennedy
Johnson
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
Bush Sr.
Clinton
Bush Jr.

Yep, that embargo has sure done a great job of keeping Castro in power through 10 American presidents.

What? You mean that wasn't what you intended? Wow…. your government sure must be embarassed.

In all seriousness, I'm not sure how anyone, no matter what his or her ideology is, could look at this strategy and call it successful. If anything it has enhanced the regime in Havana.

With Castro's health failing, we have a great opportunity to improve relations and counter Chavez's influence. What I find interesting is that most of the other Democratic candidates favor some sort of policy change - except Clinton. Let's see… Iraq, Cuba, terrorism, hands-off diplomacy? Does she have any foreign policy ideas of her own or are they all the same as Bush's? Obama has ideas - she has monotone soundbites.

To Jose: You surely do not speak for all Cubans. you are very right about Castro's regime, however if you understand politics and economics, you would know that the more economically developed a country is, the more likely it would be democratic. You seem to think that placing the embargo on your own people would punish Castro but the embargo has been on for about 3 decades now, i dont see Castro tapping out, i see him finding more reasons to and opportunities to take power from the people of Cuba. Obama is right, let Cuban-Americans send money to their family, let them show the people of Cuba what a democracy can produce then maybe we could actually get a movement going. You cant force a democracy on people, they have to want it and the only way they can want it..is to give them a "piece of the pie".

Obama’s point of removing the Cuban embargo is well taken and most likely a fine idea. The attacks from the Republicans should ring a bell in the heart of all decent good Americans. The GOP is the party of hatred, they have no interest in any negotiating with the rest of the world, they want, and they are greedy and hateful. I just hope the majority of Americans have figured this out by the 2008 election.

My grandfather, a native Cuban missionary, was an exile in the 1959 "First Wave". His family was reportedly taken as political prisoners after he eloped and escaped with my American grandmother. He returned to fight in the Bay of Pigs, was taken prisoner, and was bought back by the U.S. two years later. He lived and died in Miami years before I was born.

I've studied Castro extensively, trying to form an objective POV on the embargo. Obviously, I don't support him and I believe he's a tyrant criminal of a dictator, responsible for my mother's fatherless struggles.

I want to see democracy in Cuba as much as any hard-liner.

The fact is, I can't take the hard-line view supporting the complete embargo, at least the Bush policy of limiting remittance.

Castro has repeatedly cited the embargo as the cause of economic and social strife, sheilding his failed communist state. Cubans have no choice but to take his word and his hand outs.

The World Bank did a wonderful 2006 report on remittance and economic development in areas receiving it. The cash goes to the poorest areas because they are the source of the most emigrants. Expanding remittance, regardless of visitation, will put the taste of capitalism and democracy in the hungry mouths and minds of Cuba.

That democratic fuel will beget democracy much faster than more of the same failed policy.

Look how it fuels illegal immigration from Mexico for example. Remittance is only second to crude oil % GDP.

If anything, we can stimulate another organized, Castro-approved mass emigration, hopefully more coordinated than the Mariel Boatlift.

Anything's better than seeing dozens die on rafts every year.

I support Obama on this one.

Why do people expect that removing the embargo against Cuba will make a single difference in how Castro treats his people. Only the US has an embargo against Cuba, the rest of the world is open to trade with them. Why is one more nation of several hundred already trading with Cuba going to suddenly change everything. Europeans freely trade with Cuba and vacation there. There money has not made a difference for average Cubans, but American dollars will open the flood gates of freedom. I think the embargo is one only times that this country has stood by its convictions that tyrants should not be tolerated. Why should we feel guilty for Castro's actions. We, as the most powerful country in the world, have done everything short of all-out invasion to end his dictatoral rule. Should we now cave and offer him a seat at the table belonging to countries that actually treat their citizens decently?

The Cuban economic embargo is nearly as old as Obama is. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 passed by Congress allowed President Eisenhower to create a total embargo on all trade with Cuba. At the time the embargo had a chilling effect on Cuban industry since all their replacement parts came primarily from the United States.

President Kennedy, who Obama loves to compare himself with, broaden the embargo to include all trade to and from Cuba except food and medicine. Kennedy is the reason we no longer have Cuban cigars available in the United States. Kennedy also restricted travel to and from Cuba.

In 1977 Jimmy Carter lifted the travel ban to and from Cuba and allowed Cuban Americans to send money back to their families. Discussions to normalize trade with Cuba took place. Cuba had to agree to certain conditions. Those conditions being to remove Cuban troops from Africa, improve civil rights by the release of political prisoners, limit ties with the Soviet Union, and return private property owned by U.S. citizens seized by the Cuban government.

Alas, any gains made to normalize relations with Cuba were lost when Ronald Reagan reinstated the economic embargo and travel ban to and from Cuba. This was compounded by Bush Sr. when he signed into law the Cuban Democracy Act, which penalized all countries which trade with Cuba and receive U.S. subsidies. The reason used to advocate such a policy was the fact that Cuba had appropriated "illegally under internation law" private property belonging to U.S. citizens.

President Clinton signed into law the Helms-Burton Act which penalized companies doing business with Cuba and allowed individuals the right to sue investors who make use of private property seized by Cuba. Clinton did suspend part of the Helms-Burton Act through the remainder of his presidency. Clinton also increased the amount of money sent to Cuba by individuals. Clinton also loosened the travel restrictions to and from Cuba.

That pretty much brings us to present. If you notice, with the one exception of JFK, when republicans are in office the restrictions on Cuba are very strict. When democrats are in office efforts to normalize relations take place.

heart of the matter is the private property seized by Cuba, which is the only remaining reason behind the original embargo. This property is valued in the billions of dollars. Cuba did try to make restitution at the very end of the Clinton administration. When Bush Jr. took office those discussions were terminated.

When a person makes a decision, yes or no, regarding the embargo, that person must address the property seized by Cuba.

I'd advise Obama to do some research on the history of the embargo but the truth is the average American only has an attention span of 15 seconds, which means most of you didn't read this post anyway.

Well, I think that he just lost the Cuban vote and that's a very important block in FL. I've lived there and my mother still does, and there's no more powerful voting block in FL than the cubans.

He's right. You don't fix anything by cutting people off. The war of ideas is won by information, by showing someone that there's a bigger and freer world than they have been exposed to. Isolationism always winds up in corruption and terrible wars, as we've seen from WWI to Vietnam to Iraq.

At least there's one politician with his head on straight and his name is Obama, the next President of the United States.

Once again, political courage is one thing, political strategy is another.

There are several groups in America whose political influence is greater than their numbers. (Jews, gays, unions and fundamentalist Christians come to mind. This isn’t an ideological distinction). Certainly anti-Castro Cuban activists in Florida fall into this category. By antagonizing them (however correctly), Obama greatly diminishes his chances for victory in the general election. Remember how close Florida was last time.

I’m certain that Senator Obama’s heart is in the right place. I’m not yet convinced his advisors have their heads in the game.

Without their alliance with the now defunct USSR, what's the threat from Cuba anyhow? Is the argument that Hugo will use it as a launching pad for his war with the US? What a crock…

I want my cigars and cheap rum!

This type of thinking is typical of naive American politicians with only superficial knowledge of a particular issue. In this case, this candidate, along with some of the semi-informed letter writers are only too ready to foster the disgrace that 50 years of dictatorship has brough to Cuba, on the shoulders of a "failed" American foreign policy. Just to illustrate the point, Cuban Americans traveled freely to the Island throughout the 90's taking money to their families and bringing all that "American Influence". All that has accomplished is allowing this family of thugs to survive their toughest economic period following the fall of the soviet empire. Did all that openness bring even a small token of freedom for the Cuban people? Where's the outrage when a dictatorship of 50 years is passed from brother to brother as an entire country is treated like a personal plantation, here in the 21st Century? No Mr Obama, you must delve a little deeper into this tragedy if you expect to gain the respect of people like me whose lives have been turned upside down by the Castro Maffia that runs my country.

I agree that our so called leaders need to wake up to the fact that the imbargo doesn't work. It only hurts the civilians. What works is tact, diplomacy and communication, something our so called leaders do not have a clue in. There is no such thing as a "statesman" any more. What I don't agree with is the 1 - the term cuban-americans - You are an AMERICAN of cuban descent. Your allegiance is to this country!! 2 - If you have a problem with the way things are run in your homeland, then that's where you belong - fighting to change things. Not here, complaining that this country is not doing enough. 3. Where do we as a country get off dictating how another country should be run??? We don't like being told what to do so what makes us think everyone else likes it? Hense, the mess in Iraq..but that's a whole other issue…

Cuba: Kennedy failure.
Vietnam: Kennedy failure.
Big Dig: Kennedy failure.
Immigration: Another Kennedy failure.

Everything they touched is a failure.
And Obama's promises seem tuned to the same song.

Geez, here' ANOTHER policy where Obama makes more sense to me than any other candidate. I realize that there are legitimate reasons for people to want to punish Cuba for being communist, and perhaps we should embargo China as well, but I agree with Obama on this.

Posted By RM, Austin, TX : August 21, 2007 2:08 pm

I totally agree with you and would like nothing more than to see our embargo of Cuba ended, but you have to consider the Cuban Americans who want the embargo to continue. Like many other voting blocks, they don't necessarily understand the complexities, but want to punish Castro and the communists so they will vote for the candidate who is going to take a hard line against Castro, likely helping to give Florida to that candidate. Obama is smart in this instance since he is taking the moderate position, as I see it, which Cuban Americans will understand better and make them more likely to support him and the policy he is advocating.

Yes … good! I think it is time we break down the barriers between the US and Cuba … just like we did with Russia and China.

Don Axt
Peoria IL

This man is the president we need. I sincerely hope he is either nominated President or Vice President. Either way we need him there.

He's got my vote!

Obama's proposal isn't good enough. We should do away with the embargo altogether. The embargo punishes civilians, not Castro. Just look at how long Castro has remained in power with the embargo in place. Our politicians need to drop this stupid notion that sanctions are the way to deal with difficult regimes. I believe the only presidential candidates who have the right plan for Cuba (i.e., a complete lifting of the embargo) are Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel.

I agree completely!

Our current Cuba policy is backwards and stuck in the mid 1900s. At 46, Obama represents a younger generation. It is time for our policy to reflect modern times.

Finally. Did anyone really think the embargo was going to have any success after, what is it now, thirty plus years?

What's the point of isolating an entire country of people for no gain?

Good call, Obama, to ask our govt' to end free-flowing funds into Cuba. Let's stop sending money earned here to Mexico, S. Amer. and worst of all, Cuba.

Obama's Presidential Calendar:

1) Set up meetings with Kim Jong Il (N.Korea) & Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) to apologize for the silent treatment

2) Nuke Pakistan

3) Take vacation to Cuba and have drinks with Fidel Castro.

How is the current policy for Cuba wrong but the exact same policy was right for Iraq?

Cuba wouldn't be an issue if America hadn't broken it's promise to support the Cuban rebels. But as we have proven time and time again we are good at breaking promises.