Obama ‘Open to a New Relationship With Cuba’
EmailPresident Obama said today that his administration is “open to a new relationship with Cuba if the Cuban government starts taking the proper steps to open up its own country.”
“As long as I’m president, I will always be prepared to change our Cuba policy if and when we start seeing a serious intention on the part of the Cuban government to provide liberty for its people,” the president said in a roundtable discussion on Hispanic issues.
Obama cited the steps his administration has taken to “send a signal that we’re prepared to show flexibility and not be stuck in a Cold War mentality dating back to when I was born,” including changes to remittance laws and laws that relate to educational travel.
“What we haven’t seen is the kind of genuine spirit of transformation inside of Cuba that would justify us eliminating the embargo,” he said.
In order to fully engage, Obama stressed, the United States needs to “see a signal back from the Cuban government,” such as the release of political prisoners or the ability for people to express their opinions and petition their government.
“If we saw even those steps, those would be very significant, and we would pay attention and we would undoubtedly re-examine our overall approach to Cuba if we saw a serious movement in that direction,” the president said.
Back here at home, Obama expressed frustration with the perception that he could be doing more on his own to fix the nation’s immigration system, which he reiterated was a top priority.
“This notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true. We are doing everything we can administratively. But the fact of the matter is there are laws on the books that I have to enforce,” Obama said. “I think there’s been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the DREAM Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It’s just not true.”
The president went on to point a finger at Republicans, saying they have stalled comprehensive immigration legislation. “In the past, we’ve seen bipartisan support for comprehensive immigration reform. Unfortunately, over the last several years, what you’ve seen is the Republican Party move away from support of comprehensive immigration reform,” he said.
“We live in a democracy. You have to pass bills through the legislature, and then I can sign it. And if all the attention is focused away from the legislative process, then that is going to lead to a constant dead end. We have to recognize how the system works, and then apply pressure to those places where votes can be gotten and, ultimately, we can get this thing solved. And nobody will be a stronger advocate for making that happen than me.”
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Wikipedia:
“The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, or, in its full name, the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1348) was a bill discussed in the 110th United States Congress that would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States. The bill was portrayed as a compromise between providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and increased border enforcement: it included funding for 300 miles (480 km) of vehicle barriers, 105 camera and radar towers, and 20,000 more Border Patrol agents, while simultaneously restructuring visa criteria around high-skilled workers. The bill also received heated criticism from both sides of the immigration debate. The bill was introduced in the United States Senate on May 9, 2007, but was never voted on, though a series of votes on amendments and cloture took place. The last vote on cloture, on June 7, 2007, 11:59 AM, failed 34-61 effectively ending the bill’s chances. A related bill S. 1639, on June 28, 2007, 11:04 AM, also failed 46-53.”
The DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED Senate voted it down. Couple that with having a supermajority for almost 2 years and doing NOTHING proves the President is once again lying through his teeth. What a shame we don’t have a journalist that will call him out on it.
Posted by: wheresmymoney | September 28, 2011, 6:45 pm 6:45 pm
The real scandal on the border is the “Fast and Furious” gunrunning operation of Obama’s Justice Dept..When ,oh when is the MSM ever going to do an expose of this program responsible for rivers of blood.?
Posted by: Nephron | September 28, 2011, 7:30 pm 7:30 pm
Wikipedia:
“The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, or, in its full name, the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1348) was a bill discussed in the 110th United States Congress that would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States. The bill was portrayed as a compromise between providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and increased border enforcement: it included funding for 300 miles (480 km) of vehicle barriers, 105 camera and radar towers, and 20,000 more Border Patrol agents, while simultaneously restructuring visa criteria around high-skilled workers. The bill also received heated criticism from both sides of the immigration debate. The bill was introduced in the United States Senate on May 9, 2007, but was never voted on, though a series of votes on amendments and cloture took place. The last vote on cloture, on June 7, 2007, 11:59 AM, failed 34-61 effectively ending the bill’s chances. A related bill S. 1639, on June 28, 2007, 11:04 AM, also failed 46-53.”
The DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED Senate voted it down. Couple that with having a supermajority for almost 2 years and doing NOTHING proves the President is once again lying through his teeth. What a shame we don’t have a journalist that will call him out on it.
Posted by: wheresmymoney | September 28, 2011, 6:45 pm 6:45 pm
Except for that is a lie. The bill was introduced by Harry Reid (D) and all 33 Democrats in the Senate voted for cloture (to move to an up and down vote). Its was the Republicans (46 of them) who who voted against this.
Why is it the Republican right is unable to do legitimate research, but instead yatter on from their bias? I think we know the answer.
Posted by: Jazz | September 28, 2011, 8:10 pm 8:10 pm
Posted by: Jazz | September 28, 2011, 8:10 pm 8:10 pm
33 + 46 = 79. Where are all those other Senators?
From US Senate.gov
YEAs 34
NAYs 61
Not Voting 4
2007 Senate
Democratic Party 51
Republican Party 47
Speaking of legitimate research, Republicans do their homework. Libs on the other hand, look at their talking points media page….
Posted by: wheresmymoney | September 28, 2011, 10:19 pm 10:19 pm
Posted by: wheresmymoney | September 28, 2011, 10:19 pm 10:19 pm
Very poor research “Wheresmymoney”. Start by look up what voting for cloture means.
Then read about the House reaction to the bill . . . “In response to the revival of the bill in the Senate, the House Republican caucus floated a resolution on June 26 that read, “Resolved the House GOP Conference disapproves of the Senate immigration bill.” The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), was expected to comfortably pass the caucus. Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) commented, “basically what we are saying today is it is dead-on-arrival in the House, we can’t have secret deals, this has to go through committee, it has to go in pieces… A comprehensive bill will not pass the House.”
Then read about the Senate vote to end debate and go to an up and down vote (cloture). “After numerous votes, efforts to compromise, amendments, and modifications, the immigration bill failed a final cloture vote on June 28, 2007 by a vote of 46-53.
The bill fell 14 votes short of the 60 necessary to close debate and move to a vote.
37 Republicans, 15 Democrats and one independent in voted against ending debate. 34 Democrats and 12 Republicans wanted to move toward final passage.
In other words, most of the Democrats voted to move toward final passage of the bill. Most of the Republicans voted against moving toward final passage.
Not only is the Republican right unable to do legitimate research, but they get all arrogant and offensive pretending they know things they don’t even understand.
Posted by: Jazz | September 28, 2011, 10:57 pm 10:57 pm
It’s about time we tried to normalize relations with Cuba. How could anyone think that Cuba represents some sort of danger to the US? More open communications and dialog would illustrate what a miserable failure this Communist experiment in our hemisphere has been.And the last time I checked, the Cold War was over and we won it. I actually traveled to Cuba, when I was in the Navy, before Castro deposed Batista, and it’s a lovely island. Cruise ship passengers would love it.
Posted by: excfo | September 29, 2011, 1:14 am 1:14 am
Read both your posts Jazz. YOUR OWN NUMBERS contradict themselves.
My personal favorite lie is in the first one. Reid and ALL 33 Democrats in the Senate.
Posted by: wheresmymoney | September 29, 2011, 7:42 am 7:42 am
What if Cuba demanded that the US have free health care and higher education like it does, or ended use of the death penalty and runaway gun use, before it was “open to a new relationship”,
President Obama has either fallen into a 100 year old trap of assuming that the US has the right to shape Cuba’s domestic polity or is just looking for excuses..
He is badly informed about what is happening inside Cuba today. Thanks to the assistance of Spain and the Catholic church, all persons deemed prisoners of conscience have been released. Those still imprisoned are guilty of violent crimes, including hijacking. China and Saudi Arabia and other countries have more serious problems of repression than Cuba does but that does not inhibit our bilateral relations with them.
Cuba is in the early stages of transforming its economy and social system, similar to the first steps in China and Vietnam, but the direction is clear as every serious international reporter has documented. Obama could be taking positive steps to foster change instead of buying into the politics of the minority of hard liners in the Cuban American community who cannot recognize or tolerate self-directed evolution.
The President has acted forcefully on Cuban American travel and remittances but timidly on restoring the rights of the rest of us.
Cuba is one more issue where the excitement of campaign promises to meet with US opponents for real dialog has been replaced by tired rhetoric of conditionality.
John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
Posted by: John McAuliff | September 29, 2011, 8:07 am 8:07 am
“All persons deemed prisoners of conscience have been released”. To quote another Mcauliff-: NUTS! That has to be one of the most naive comments ever posted on this blog..No source,no facts,no reality. Henry Wallace lives!
Posted by: Nephron | September 29, 2011, 8:32 am 8:32 am
“The bill fell 14 votes short of the 60 necessary to close debate and move to a vote.
37 Republicans, 15 Democrats and one independent in voted against ending debate. 34 Democrats and 12 Republicans wanted to move toward final passage.
In other words, most of the Democrats voted to move toward final passage of the bill. Most of the Republicans voted against moving toward final passage.
Posted by: Jazz | September 28, 2011, 10:57 pm 10:57 pm
jazz, only a liberal could look at those numbers and say it was the Republicans fault the bill didn’t move forward. Heck, it wouldn’t have even passed a simple majority!
Either way, if Obama was such a big proponent of this measure he would have moved it forward forcefully in his first year when the dems had dominant control of both houses of Congress. But he didn’t, he focused on the now failed stimulus and the wretched Obamacare bill. Now he is monday morning quarterbacking illegal immigration positions and casting blame on the Republicans to help his re-election chances with the Hispanic community. He won’t push any bills now because this issue is a big loser with the American public.
Posted by: J.R. | September 29, 2011, 8:54 am 8:54 am
SOLYNDRA probe threatens to ensnare Obama’s Energy Secretary…
Obama admin approves 2 solar loans worth $1B…
Links to Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law?
REPORT: Dem-Donor Companies Got $500M From Feds…
Can impeachment be far behind?
OBAMA____________VS___________AMERICA
Posted by: Yep I said that | September 29, 2011, 9:50 am 9:50 am
Fast & Furious…Obamas Watergate
When will he be indicted?
OBAMA________VS______AMERICA
Posted by: Yep I said that | September 29, 2011, 9:51 am 9:51 am
I think it’s been about 40 years since Nixon established detente with China. Those were back in the days of heightened cold war tensions and the Indochina conflict of Nam. This was the act of a Republican president, hardly taken in small incremental steps.
In contrast, we now have a Democratic president repeating a campaign promise on more open relations with Cuba with an insistence on preconditions that aren’t likely to be met. Obama seems to be offering, in an almost reluctant manner, enticements to his more progressive constituents.
By standards of years ago, Obama is more like a moderate to conservative Republican. There’s been some striking changes, which some might call devolvement, over the years to the presidential gene pool.
Posted by: jane r. | September 29, 2011, 10:58 am 10:58 am
Maybe Barry can get a deal with Communist Cuba like we have with Communist China.
That way we can get really junky stuff made really cheaply right next door and save all of that shipping expense.
Other than that, who cares?
Posted by: Noz | September 29, 2011, 12:28 pm 12:28 pm
“The bill fell 14 votes short of the 60 necessary to close debate and move to a vote.
37 Republicans, 15 Democrats and one independent in voted against ending debate. 34 Democrats and 12 Republicans wanted to move toward final passage.
In other words, most of the Democrats voted to move toward final passage of the bill. Most of the Republicans voted against moving toward final passage.
Posted by: Jazz | September 28, 2011, 10:57 pm 10:57 pm
jazz, only a liberal could look at those numbers and say it was the Republicans fault the bill didn’t move forward
Posted by: J.R. | September 29, 2011, 8:54 am 8:54 am
Oh good heavens, the Republicans voting against everything has no impact – it’s all the Democrats fault.
Even President Bush was disappointed this bill did not get passed – one of the major problems with the Republicans – their inability to compromise and work out solutions even amongst themselves keeps the country back. Same with reform of Fannie and Freddie.
Posted by: Bart | September 29, 2011, 2:19 pm 2:19 pm