[Marxism] A letter to a Marxmail subscriber

[Walter Lippmann]

LOUIS PROYECT wrote:
Even if this were true, the Great Society happened 40 years ago. 
That's quite a long time. Ever since then, the Democrats have not been 
responsible for anything vaguely resembling LBJ's social programs. 
In fact, Carter and Clinton took the lead in whittling away many 
New Deal type programs. And Obama has explicitly stated that the 
Clinton presidency is his model.
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Clinton and Carter did many things against Cuba, but it
was still easier for Cuban-Americans and it was also
less difficult for the rest of us to visit the island.

While Obama has moved to the right within this campaign
on many issues, he hasn't changed his position that the
Cuba embargo regulations should be lifted for a minimum
of 90 days because of the impact of hurricanes Ike and
Gustav. That's why many Cuban-Americans are supporting
Obama. It makes perfectly good sense from the viewpoint
of Cubans who are interested in visiting and helping
their relatives on the island.

Usually Cuba policy is off the table in U.S. elections,
but now it's become something of a wedge issue which
the Democrats think they can use to score some points
and put states like Florida in play. Today's edition
of the MIAMI HERALD reports recent developments, so
this is all good news, even though on other issues
Obama's positions are dreadful. On Cuba, his views
make a small but significant difference.

Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
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FIDEL ON OBAMA:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/fc-05-25-2008.html
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MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Fri, Sep. 19, 2008 
Talk of lifting Cuba restrictions renewed 
BY LESLEY CLARK 
The mother of a political prisoner held in Cuba and a single mom 
with an aging parent on the island provided an impassioned backdrop 
Thursday as Congress renewed a debate over lifting restrictions on 
travel and aid to the island.

The hearing comes in the wake of damage caused by hurricanes Ike and
Gustav and calls from Cuban Americans and politicians to temporarily
lift caps on travel and how much money Cubans here can send to
families.

''Americans who have family in Galveston can offer them housing,
money, clothes, supplies and emotional support,'' said Marlene
Arzola, the Miami Beach mom who said she can't visit Cuba until
August 2010 because of the travel restrictions. ``If I could, I would
be in Guantánamo helping my 78-year-old mother fix her roof. What in
the world is wrong with that?''

She was countered by Blanca Gonzalez, whose son, Normando Hernandez,
was imprisoned in Cuba in 2003 -- a crackdown, Gonzalez says, spurred
tighter travel restrictions. She said 59 of those seized -- and her
son -- are still being held and argued against lifting the sanctions.

''Why aren't you putting pressure on the international community and
others to pressure the Castro regime to accept the tremendous amount
of humanitarian assistance the United States has offered?'' she said
in Spanish through an interpreter. ``What would justify we lift
sanctions against a despotic regime that refuses to give a single
sign of a willingness to change?''

A longtime critic of U.S.-Cuba policy is proposing legislation that
would lift the travel ban for six months, but he acknowledged it
might not get a hearing until after the November election. Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama and Democratic congressional
candidates Joe Garcia, Raul Martinez and Annette Taddeo have been
among those calling for a temporary halt to the restrictions.

`ANTI-AMERICAN'

Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., said he'd like to lift the restrictions
imposed by President Bush in 2004 entirely, calling them
``anti-family and anti-American.''

''But I am willing to compromise to avoid a humanitarian disaster,''
Delahunt said. His bill will call for lifting restrictions on family
travel, remittances and care packages for six months.

Congress, though, is only expected to be in session for another week
before recessing for the November election. And the proposal sparked
opposition even in the House subcommittee Delahunt chairs. The
committee's top Republican, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California,
cautioned against lifting any of the sanctions.

''We don't make it a better world by treating [the Cuban government]
as if it were like a government in Belgium or Brazil,'' he said.
``Changing our rules to try to treat them the same way is not going
to bring about more freedom for the Cuban people.''

Rohrabacher noted that the Cuban Americans in Congress -- including
Republican Reps. Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen -- oppose lifting the travel ban. They are facing
Democratic challengers: Mario Diaz-Balart by Garcia, Lincoln
Diaz-Balart by Martinez, and Ros-Lehtinen by Taddeo.

Rohrabacher said those members know the issue best. ''They
understand, as do the people who vote for them, that yes, sometimes
it is important to sacrifice that moment of love and compassion
because in the long run it will bring repression and brutality and
misery toward large numbers of people,'' he said.

Ninoska Pérez Castellón of the Cuban Liberty Council offered a sharp
retort to Delahunt, whom she noted went to Cuba in 2006 and declared
Raúl Castro's presidency a ``new era.''

''You know what's un-American,'' the radio and TV host said, peering
at Delahunt from the witness table, ``to serve as an apologist for
dictators.''

`USUAL SUSPECTS'

She said in an interview before testifying that the critics of the
policy were ''the usual suspects'' -- people interested in lifting
sanctions, regardless of hurricane damage. But Francisco ''Pepe''
Hernandez, the president of the Cuban American National Foundation,
which obtained a new federal license to aid storm victims and said it
was swamped by the response, called the restrictions ``inhumane and
absurd.''

''Cuban Americans now more than ever must become agents of change
inside the island,'' he said. ``We have to find ways we can break
that total control of the Cuban government over the Cuban people.
This is our opportunity. And it's the opportunity of the Cuban
people.''



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     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo"
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