A new Bendixen & Amandi Poll finds that President Obama also enjoys an 80% favorability rating in Cuba — nearly twice as high was he rates in the United States.
Cuomo Plans Trade Trip to Cuba
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “is expected to announce in his state-of-the- state address on Wednesday that he will lead a trade mission to Cuba in the coming months,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
The trip “would be among the first by a high-profile U.S. politician since the Obama administration loosened travel and trade rules for the country.”
Rand Paul Slams Marco Rubio as ‘Isolationist’
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) “is hitting back against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Cuba in a preview of a possible debate between two presidential hopefuls,” The Hill reports.
“In a series of tweets at Rubio on Friday afternoon, Paul called the Florida senator an ‘isolationist’ for opposing the opening to Cuba announced by President Obama on Wednesday, turning a label often used against himself around.”
Washington Post: “The feud is the loudest public dispute so far between potential GOP 2016 candidates and lays bare the divergent world views of traditional hawks — including Rubio and past Republican presidents and nominees — and the emerging, younger libertarian wing represented by Paul.”
Paul Backs Change in Cuba Policy
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that starting to trade with Cuba “is probably a good idea” and that the lengthy economic embargo against the communist island “just hasn’t worked,” the AP reports.
He added: “If the goal is regime change, it sure doesn’t seem to be working and probably it punishes the people more than the regime because the regime can blame the embargo for hardship.”
“Paul became the first potential Republican presidential candidate to offer some support for President Barack Obama’s decision to try to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba. The president’s surprise announcement on Wednesday was slammed by several potential GOP candidates, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who said it amounted to appeasing the Castro regime.”
White House Won’t Rule Out Obama Cuba Visit
President Obama said that a high-level U.S. delegation will be heading to Cuba soon and his spokesman today said that a presidential visit to the island nation is a possibility in the future, Bloomberg reports.
No Lame Duck Yet
“President Obama, as he has shown all year, isn’t about to go quietly into the lame-duck night, even with Republicans ready to take full power down the street. With the stunning announcement Wednesday that the U.S. is set to normalize relations with Cuba, the president is closing his self-termed ‘Year of Action’ with a thunderclap,” National Journal reports.
“In doing so, Obama is serving notice to the new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that a sitting president trumps a Congress divided both along party lines and within them. The shift comes about a month after the last time the president thrust his stick into the GOP’s eye, when Obama announced he was unilaterally providing widespread deportation relief to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants.”
“On both occasions, the president signaled that he’s willing to bet his view of history will prevail and that Republicans continue to occupy the wrong side of it.”
Republicans Blast Obama Change in Cuba Policy
“Republicans reacted with outrage Wednesday over the Obama administration’s move to normalize relations with Cuba, with some lawmakers casting it as appeasement and the product of extortion by the communist Castro government,” Politico reports.
Said Sen. Marco Rubio: “It’s part of a long record of coddling dictators and tyrants that this administration has established.”
New York Times: “For more than a generation, Republicans have taken a hard line against the communist nation, endearing themselves to the politically potent bloc of Cuban-Americans who have been a crucial force in deciding elections in the state. But those animosities have given way to generational shift, and younger voters who have family ties to Cuba — but no direct memories of the island under Fidel Castro — have been willing to support Democrats.”
Obama Restores Full Diplomatic Relations with Cuba
President Obama said the United States “will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century,” the New York Times reports.
“In a deal negotiated during 18 months of secret talks hosted largely by Canada and encouraged by Pope Francis, who hosted a final meeting at the Vatican, Mr. Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba agreed in a telephone call to put aside decades of hostility to find a new relationship between the United States and the island nation just 90 miles off the American coast.”
Said Obama: “We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries.” He added that the deal will “begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas” and move beyond a “rigid policy that’s rooted in events that took place before most of us were born.”
Washington Post: “The Vatican hosted talks between the two nations that started last year with a meeting in Canada. The Vatican also sent representatives to the talks, a step the Canadians did not.”
Wonk Wire: So can you buy a Cuban cigar now?
Bonus Quote of the Day
“At a minimum Barack Obama is the worst negotiator we’ve had as president since at least Jimmy Carter, and maybe in the modern history of this country.”
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), quoted by National Journal, on the news that led to talks with Cuba about normalizing diplomatic relations.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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