Originally Posted By Mr X Just came in over the wires. Thoughts? Anyone know possible replacements? Could this possibly usher in a new era, or at least a new start?
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Could this possibly usher in a new era, or at least a new start?<< My first thought was, "Oh man, why did this have to happen with President Stupid in office? Bill Clinton or any of the three leading candidates could do so much better. Bush can barely speak English, and when he tries to speak Spanish...oy! But hopefully it can be the beginning of the something better, for both us and the Cubans.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Why does everything have to be a Bush slam, It is really getting tiring....
Originally Posted By Mr X Well, William, I think it's fair to address the issue of Bush in the context of what may happen next. "you're either for us or against us" is not really the best way to build bridges, after all. Anyway, I'm hoping for the best. Cuban cigars are great and it's a shame we can't get them in America.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 It doesn't matter what the topic is, you could have posted Sunny skies over Denver today, and someone would have blasted Bush on global warming. I am just so sick of it, and quite frankly 99% of all negotiations with countries are done with diplomats, not the President. BTW Bush never made this policy on Cuba, it has been passed along from Presidency to Presidency since JFK, so don't blame Bush on this one.
Originally Posted By gadzuux Our cuba policy has been trying for regime change for almost fifty years. Success at last! Now maybe we can get back to treating them like human beings.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>BTW Bush never made this policy on Cuba, it has been passed along from Presidency to Presidency since JFK, so don't blame Bush on this one.<< No one blamed him. He's just proven to be such a miserable failure time and time again, that I'm not at all comfortable with him as President during an important transition with a nation that's physically closer to us than most others. It's not always a Bush slam. This happens to be a topic where it's a legitimate concern. But if you'd like to defend the bang-up job he's doing, be my guest. >>I am just so sick of it, and quite frankly 99% of all negotiations with countries are done with diplomats, not the President.<< And I am so sick of apathy and excuses. I'm sick of people defending the indefensible. I'm sick of lazy democracy. I'm sick of people who wrap themselves in the flag and cry that America is the greatest and then do nothing to make it better and everything to make it worse. If we have a President as despicable as Bush, we should be pissed off every second of every day. Instead, people shrug and then complain about the people that are angry, as if they're the problem.
Originally Posted By dshyates Bush has been a foreign policy disaster. I suspect that he will handle this with his usual grace and eloquence.
Originally Posted By DAR Castro's brother is taking over, so there really isn't going to be any change. Unless of course his brother was this secret advocate of freedom and democracy.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 But amazingly, Bush will be blamed for everything bad that happens. I don't like him much either, but enough is enough with this senseless bashing, he has done nothing towards Cuba negatively except carry on the policies of the past 50 years.
Originally Posted By fkurucz << Anyone know possible replacements?>> I thought that his brother Raul was next in line for the throne.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy Sorry, but GWB deserves every bit of criticism about his administration's policies in Cuba. It was pretty much inevitable that Castro's days were numbered in Cuba. The Bush administration has no strategy whatsoever to handle this circumstance that might shift that country towards more democratic rule. One of the last remaining outposts from the Cold War era of Communism remains 50 miles on our doorstep. Instead, we'll just continue to use Cuba for our infamous detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. It's shameful.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I agree with William that the Bush policy towards Cuba has been basically the same (IMO counterproductive) policy in place almost since Castro took over. He did make one change for the worse, though, which I know first-hand through a Cuban-American woman at my office. He tightened travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans wishing to visit family back in Cuba. It used to be allowed every year, now it's every three years. This was intended to bolster Bush in Florida for the 2004 election, but it backfired, causing a lot of hard feelings even in the usually very pro-GOP Miami Cuban community. <a href="http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/22/State/Bush_Cuba_policy_stir.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05 /22/State/Bush_Cuba_policy_stir.shtml</a>
Originally Posted By pipanale Just tell me when the travel restrictions lift. Cuba is on my list of places I want to visit and I'm not willing to take the route through the Bahamas or Canada to see it.
Originally Posted By ecdc William is right that the policy has been the same. Where he's wrong is in arguing against a point no one made. No one has blamed Bush for the current state of Cuba/American relations. All I did was express concern that Bush's disastrous foreign policy record might also make its way to Cuba now that it's possible there may be new opportunity for diplomacy. His Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Sudan, etc., policies have sucked.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>"you're either for us or against us" is not really the best way to build bridges, after all.<< Well, it certainly comes off the same way when people have to bring every single discussion back to Bush. It comes off not as "you're either for us or against us", but rather as "you're ether for us, or a flaming idiot who is amazing that you can even figure out how to get to this website. What people blame Bush for the most is the exact same thing that they turn around and do to him. Sure, he's made mistakes. Everybody has. Get over it. His term of office is coming to an end sooner that you may think. He's basically already in the lame duck position, so it really doesn't even matter what he does at this point. Honestly, I don't think 24 hours ago most of us were concerned with our foreign relations with Cuba. There had basically not been any for the last 40+ years, so why start now? Then this comes along (sure, we knew it would happen eventually, but nobody really had any idea of when it would occur) and now it's somebody's fault for not drastically changing something that had been basically untouched since every Democrat's idol JFK planned it, and then it just fell off the nation's radar (perhaps intentionally). What ever the reason for not changing anything, I really don't see it as a big issue. There had not been any signs that there would be much change on their end, so it wasn't really nessecary for us to change to help accomodate them. It's nobody's fault (no offense, Nobody) that it hasn't changed over the last 40+ years, that's just the way that it's been handled. Sure, this now opens the door for many opportunities, but we really don't know how things will be changing down there, so it could just be more of the same. Personally, I feel a lot more comfortable with Bush handling this than any of the current candidated, since we know what he will do. He will go say something silly, the media will call him an idiot, and we will move on with our lives. If it were, oh say, Hillary, who knows what we would get. The rest of the world expects it from us, so why not just live up to expectations a little longer? : ) "When did we do anything with Sudan?" Never, and I think that's the point. Although, the UN is just as much to blame for the problems going on there (if not much much more) than we are.
Originally Posted By DAR <<Iran, North Korea>> How else should we have handled those? Militarily? Who would have wanted that. Right now diplomacy is the best course of action. You certainly can't be offended they were included in the Axis of Evil comment that Bush once made. I will never be offended if we put down known countries where despots and dictators are in charge.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Honestly, I don't think 24 hours ago most of us were concerned with our foreign relations with Cuba. There had basically not been any for the last 40+ years, so why start now? >> Why start? Because the opportunity is different now. Castro has been ailing for several years. We knew this opportunity was coming. It would make sense to adjust your strategy based upon a near certain outcome (the inevitable death of Castro). The current administration doesn't have the foresight to put two and two together on these sorts of things, so we have essentially done nothing in advance of this event.
