"The
Democratic Party needs Hispanic voters for the 2016 presidential election and must
try to keep Florida in their column. … By approaching Cuba in such a definitive
and historic way, Obama gives the 2016 Democratic nominee for president a
golden opportunity to make Florida the party's most valuable state in electoral
terms. In short, what Obama has done, in terms of U.S. policy, is a
win-win-win. Not bad for a president who seemed finished.
Since his party's defeat in November, Barack Obama has taken
two admirable and historic decisions: the decree to remove the threat of
deportation for almost four million undocumented migrants, and now the restoration
of diplomatic relations with Cuba. By reopening the U.S. Embassy in Havana,
Obama puts an end to one of Washington diplomacy's greatest 20th century mistakes.
"Isolation hasn't worked," Obama said, examining the stumbling block
that for various reasons had remained bedrock state policy for over half a
century. And although the measures Obama announced do not end the embargo on
Cuba, it implies a gigantic step most likely lead to a thoroughgoing thaw in
relations.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
In the United States, the news has been received with almost
unanimous enthusiasm. This is not a surprise. Opinion polls conducted this year
indicated that a majority of Americans (56 percent) say they favor normalizing
relations with Havana. In Florida, home of the Cuban exile community, 68
percent of Cuban-Americans support what is now a fact. For Obama, the decision would
have been relatively easy - and electoral calculations are likely to have
helped make up his mind. The Democratic Party needs Hispanic voters for the
2016 presidential election and must try to keep Florida in their column. Barack
Obama won there by less than 100,000 votes in 2012. In 2016, winning again
could be complicated, especially if the candidate is Jeb Bush, former governor from
1999-2007 (and incidentally, a perfect speaker of Spanish).
By approaching Cuba in such a definitive and historic way,
Obama gives the 2016 Democratic nominee for president a golden opportunity to
make Florida the party's most valuable state in electoral terms. In short, what
Obama has done, in terms of U.S. policy, is a win-win-win. Not bad for a
president who seemed finished.
