Posted on Fri, May. 23, 2008
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI --
Sen. Barack Obama, who once said he would meet Cuban leader Raul Castro
without preconditions, added Friday that he would do so "only when we
have an opportunity to advance the interests of the United States and to
advance the cause of freedom for the Cuban people."
Any meeting would occur "at a time and place of my choosing," the likely
Democratic presidential nominee told an audience of Cuban-Americans that
applauded his remarks.
Obama said he would maintain the existing trade embargo to use as
leverage for winning Democratic change in the Communist island nation.
But he said he would immediately allow "unlimited family travel and
remittances to the island."
"It's time to let Cuban-Americans see their mothers and fathers, their
sisters and brothers. It's time to let Cuban-American money make their
families less dependent upon the Castro regime," he said.
Obama made his remarks as part of his first extended trip through
swing-state Florida, beginning a courtship that ordinarily would have
occurred much earlier in the year. But the state's Jan. 29 primary date
violated Democratic National Committee rules, and the party's
presidential hopefuls observed a ban on campaigning.
"We've had a great three days here in Florida. I'm regretting that we
couldn't have campaigned here earlier, but I promise you we're going to
make up for lost time," he said at a rally later in the day.
Obama's campaign billed the speech to the Cuban American National
Foundation as a new policy for Latin America. He accused President Bush
of diplomatic neglect and allowing a vacuum to develop into which
anti-American Venezuelan President Huge Chavez came to power.
"That is the record, the Bush record in Latin America, that John McCain
has chosen to embrace," he said.
As for Cuba, Obama said, "my policy ... will be guided by one word:
Libertad."
Obama has been criticized sharply by McCain and other Republicans for
having said he would agree to meet in the first year of his
administration, without preconditions, with leaders such as Iran's
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Castro and the heads of other rogue
regimes. Some prominent Democrats have also disagreed with Obama's position.
When asked about his position during a debate in July 2007, Obama said:
"The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them
- which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration
- is ridiculous."
Despite his own change, Obama sought to turn the tables on McCain,
saying that the Republican's opposition to a no-conditions meeting with
Castro amounted to ruling out a "course of action that that could
advance the cause of liberty."
Obama said McCain has been "going around the country talking about how
much I want to meet with Raul Castro as if I'm looking for a social
gathering. That's never what I've said and John McCain knows it."
The McCain campaign countered that Obama has a "record of weak
leadership" on Cuba, saying Obama has voted to curb funding for U.S.
broadcasting in Cuba. It also accused him of flip-flopping on ending the
U.S. embargo against Cuba.
"Senator Obama's reckless judgment, and his pandering on trade, will set
back relations between the United States and Latin America for decades.
That's not a new day the people of North and South America want to wake
up to," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said.
Turning his attention to the rest of the region, Obama said: "We can
continue as a bystander or we can lead the hemisphere into the 21st
century. And when I am president of the United States, we will choose to
lead. It's time for a new alliance of the Americas."
An Obama administration would increase economic aid to Latin America,
work with other nations to reduce drug trafficking and seek cooperation
on alternative energy, while also pursuing trade deals that protect U.S.
workers, he said.
On the verge of claiming the Democratic nomination, Obama needs to build
support among Hispanic voters, both nationally and in the key swing
state of Florida. The state's population is 20 percent Hispanic and 16
percent black.
Hispanics have preferred Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton over Obama by 26
percentage points in Democratic primaries so far, according to exit
polls for The Associated Press, eclipsing the 15-percentage point edge
by which she has won among white voters. They also seem more staunchly
loyal to Clinton than whites: 35 percent of Hispanics have said they
would only be satisfied if the New York senator wins the nomination,
compared to 29 percent of whites.
Cuban-Americans have traditionally supported Republicans and a hard line
against any engagement with Cuba's Communist rulers. But that is changing.
Jorge Mas Santos, son of the Cuban American National Foundation's
founder, introduced Obama by calling for a new approach to Cuba,
including allowing Americans to send money and make trips back to
relatives on the island - two measures Obama supports.
Simply waiting for democratic reforms in Cuba "is not a policy. Ladies
and gentlemen, it is surrender," Mas Santos said.
Obama wrapped up his Florida tour with a 16,000-person rally in Sunrise,
which he mistakenly called "Sunshine."
He argued that Republicans can't win on the issues so they will try to
attack him by planting doubts about his values and patriotism. Obama
told the crowd that he is committed to helping struggling families
improve their lives.
"Those are my values. That's my story - of an American family that is
able to give something to their kids that's a little better than they
had," Obama said. "That's my patriotism."
Associated Press writer Laura Wides-Munoz contributed to this report.
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