[NYTr] Sure enough: Obama for Cuban-American travel to Cuba

Tue Aug 21 17:57:10 EDT 2007

[Assume every word -- every syllable -- has been polled to death in
this Op Ed by Barack Obama.  "Cuban spring" ??? Oh, come on...

It's interesting to see that Obama's polling obviously indicates that
public opinion IN FLORIDA supports that in the rest of the country: to
end the ridiculous and unconstitutional travel restrictions -- BUT:
NOTE WHAT OBAMA REALLY SAYS: That the primary goal of the US govt
should be to reduce the reliance of the Cuban people on their own
government. In other words, there is no REAL change to be had from the
likes of Barack Obama. But, despite the charade and shadow-play,
perhaps, as Franklin says, this small change in US policy is worth
working for. -NY Transfer]

sent by Jane Franklin - Aug 21, 2007

Obviously the August 18 announcement by Joe García, chairman of the 
Miami-Dade Democratic Party, and this Miami Herald opinion piece by
Barack Obama are timed for Obama's visit to Miami August 25.  What
might this mean in Florida?  A chance to overthrow the right-wing power
structure now controlled by the likes of Ileana Roz-Lehtinen and the
Díaz-Balart brothers in Congress.

This is a goal worth fighting for, no matter what you think of Obama's 
reasoning (he's running for president after all, and his opinions are
shared by many liberals who support an end to sanctions on travel and
trade with Cuba).

Siempre,
Jane Franklin
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jbfranklins

Miami Herald - Aug 21, 2007

Op-Ed: 

Our main goal: Freedom in Cuba

By BARACK OBAMA

When my father was a young man living in Kenya, the freedom and
opportunity of the United States exerted such a powerful draw that he
moved halfway around the world to pursue his dreams here. My father's
story is not unique. The same has been true for tens of millions of
people, from every continent -- including for the many Cubans who have
come and made their lives here since the start of Fidel Castro's
dictatorship almost 50 years ago.

It is a tragedy that, just 90 miles from our shores, there exists a
society where such freedom and opportunity are kept out of reach by a
government that clings to discredited ideology and authoritarian
control. A democratic opening in Cuba is, and should be, the foremost
objective of our policy. We need a clear strategy to achieve it -- one
that takes some limited steps now to spread the message of freedom on
the island, but preserves our ability to bargain on behalf of democracy
with a post-Fidel government.

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. U.S. policy must be built around empowering the
Cuban people, who ultimately hold the destiny of Cuba in their hands.
The United States has a critical interest in seeing Cuba join the
roster of stable and economically vibrant democracies in the Western
Hemisphere. Such a development would bring us important security and
economic benefits, and it would allow for new cooperation on migration,
counter-narcotics and other issues.

Advance political reform

These interests, and our support for the aspirations of the Cuban
people, are ill served by the further entrenchment of the Castro
regime, which is why we need to advance peaceful political and economic
reform on the island. Castro's ill health and the potentially
tumultuous changes looming ahead make the matter all the more urgent.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration has made grand gestures to that
end while strategically blundering when it comes to actually advancing
the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba. This is particularly true
of the administration's decision to restrict the ability of Cuban
Americans to visit and send money to their relatives in Cuba. This is
both a humanitarian and a strategic issue. That decision has not only
had a profoundly negative impact on the welfare of the Cuban people. It
has also made them more dependent on the Castro regime and isolated
them from the transformative message carried there by Cuban Americans.

In the ''Cuban spring'' of the late 1990s and early years of this
decade, dissidents and human-rights activists had more political space
than at any time since the beginning of Castro's rule, and Cuban
society experienced a small opening in advancing the cause of freedom
for the Cuban people.

U.S. policies -- especially the fact that Cuban Americans were allowed
to maintain and deepen ties with family on the island -- were a key
cause of that ''Cuban spring.'' Although cut off by the Castro regime's
deplorable March 2003 jailing of 75 of Cuba's most prominent and
courageous dissidents, the opening underscored what is possible with a
sensible strategic approach.

We in the United States should do what we can to bring about another
such opening, taking certain steps now-and pledging to take additional
steps as temporary openings are solidified into lasting change.

Cuban-American connections to family in Cuba are not only a basic right
in humanitarian terms, but also our best tool for helping to foster the 
beginnings of grass-roots democracy on the island. Accordingly, I will
grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send
remittances to the island.

But as we reach out in some ways now, it makes strategic sense to hold
on to important inducements we can use in dealing with a post-Fidel
government, for it is an unfortunate fact that his departure by no
means guarantees the arrival of freedom on the island.

Bilateral talks

Accordingly, I will use aggressive and principled diplomacy to send an 
important message: If a post-Fidel government begins opening Cuba to 
democratic change, the United States (the president working with
Congress) is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the
embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last
five decades. That message coming from my administration in bilateral
talks would be the best means of promoting Cuban freedom. To refuse to
do so would substitute posturing for serious policy -- and we have seen
too much of that in other areas over the past six years.

We must not lose sight of our fundamental goal: freedom in Cuba. At the
same time, we should be pragmatic in our approach and clear-sighted
about the effects of our policies. We all know the power of the freedom
and opportunity that America at its best has both embodied and
advanced. If deployed wisely, those ideals will have as transformative
effect on Cubans today as they did on my father more than 50 years ago.

[Sen. Barack Obama is a candidate for the Democratic presidential
nomination.]