The president announced that he would normalize diplomatic relations with Communist Cuba, reduce some trade restrictions, and move to take the regime off the list of state sponsors of terror (Corner). Never mind that Havana is even now providing aid and comfort to terrorists in Columbia (same link).
The reaction was furious (The Hill): “President Obama’s actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government…There is no equivalence between an international aid worker and convicted spies who were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage against our nation.” That came from Republican Senator….
Oh, wait, I’m sorry. That was Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey. He continued:
This asymmetrical trade will invite further belligerence toward Cuba’s opposition movement and the hardening of the government’s dictatorial hold on its people. Let us all remind ourselves that an untold number of ordinary people yearning for democracy remain imprisoned by the exact same tormentors that have punished Alan Gross and they, along with all Cubans, deserve a free and liberated Cuba.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio was also upset (Corner):
I intend to use my role as incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Western Hemisphere subcommittee to make every effort to block this dangerous and desperate attempt by the president to burnish his legacy at the Cuban people’s expense
The president said, after getting pasted in last month’s midterms, that he wanted more bipartisanship in Washington.
Well, at least he managed that!
@deejaymcguire | facebook.com/people/Dj-McGuire | DJ’s posts
