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A Study in Contrasts: Obama and Trump on the Death of Fidel
President Obama issued the following statement:
At this time of Fidel Castro’s passing, we extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people. We know that this moment fills Cubans — in Cuba and in the United States — with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him.
For nearly six decades, the relationship between the United States and Cuba was marked by discord and profound political disagreements. During my presidency, we have worked hard to put the past behind us, pursuing a future in which the relationship between our two countries is defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends — bonds of family, culture, commerce, and common humanity. This engagement includes the contributions of Cuban Americans, who have done so much for our country and who care deeply about their loved ones in Cuba.
Today, we offer condolences to Fidel Castro’s family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people. In the days ahead, they will recall the past and also look to the future. As they do, the Cuban people must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America.
And from President-elect Trump:
Today, the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades. Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.
While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve.
Though the tragedies and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty. I join the many Cuban Americans who supported me so greatly in the presidential campaign, including the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association that endorsed me, with the hope of one day soon seeing a free Cuba.
I think all Ricochetti can agree upon which leader got the tone right.
Published in General
Oh good grief!!!
The Left’s near erotic enchantment with pitiless, murderous and looting thugs goes back to the Jacobin Terror. Great Men are always evil monsters doing the work of good culling and corralling the herd of pliant humanity to create the paradise they all dream of for themselves and the rivers of blood and mountains of skulls are merely collateral costs.
Obama is leftist juvenile and Trump is starting to sound like a man in full.
Haha “crack team of Russian propaganda detectors.” We are witnessing the fall of journalism.
Or it could be that nobody asked her or cares.
Some college professor. Can’t even spell “altar.”
Or Hillary ensured Fidel had an “accident”.
of course the Castros are evil. Getting rid of one does not solve the problem
It is already a failed state. Castro’s death has put nothing new up in the air. The Cuban’s moved to control Venezuela after their sponsor collapsed because they knew when the Castro’s left the scene the senior security people would need a good place to escape to in case they couldn’t hold it all together. Now Venezuela is what is up in the air, rapidly becoming a failed state and for the same reason. What is it the neo cons are going to do? And who are they? Are they still the former jewish marxists who had been mugged by reality? I’m not understanding your point.
Obama flunks again. I’ll give Donald Trump an A- on his statement. It would have been a solid A if he had left off the last sentence, which was more about aggrandizing Trump himself, than talking about the Cuban people.
Marco Rubio’s statement from his Senate web page:
When I was in 6th grade, we had a new boy come in the middle of the year. His name was Enrique, and his father had been a banker and landowner in Cuba. His family had to escape with just the clothes on their backs. He spoke no English at first, and there were no Spanish programs back then. He spoke fluent English by the end of the year. Anyway Castro took everything they had. For Obama to phrase it as “the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives” made me sick. The correct word isn’t “altered,” it’s “destroyed.”
Yeah, being gunned down by a firing squad has a way of altering your individual life. A few years in a hell-hole prison can do it, too. Or you can alter your behavior (lie, dissemble, etc) to avoid such a fate.
Those are just a few examples. As our president said, there are countless ways.
Guess where Hillary would have landed.
“Today, we offer condolences to Fidel Castro’s family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people.
Kind of a non sequitur when mourning the death of an Atheist, Communist Dictator isn’t it?
As Freud said, there are no accidents.
Heh. I deleted an extra sentence before hitting “comment” that would surely have provoked the usual suspects to chime in.
Kids today don’t know the history and people who experienced it need to tell them. They look at well paid idiots like Kaepernick wearing a Castro shirt or Che and thinks its fine. Desi Arnez’ family (dad was mayor of Havana) fled with clothes on their back and started with nothing.
I watched an episode of Globe Trekkers where they stood in line to get ice cream cones with armed guards everywhere. No one in line would speak to them on camera – they said you could feel the fear. They communicate to each other thru songs.
My neighbor went as soon as Cuba opened up and took amazing pictures, captured the colorful old cars, buildings, children.
Twitter laughs at Trudeau
Today we celebrate Genghis Khan, horseman, patriarch, and innovative disrupter of cultural barriers.
#trudeauelogies#trudeaueulogiesRIP Jeffrey Dahmer, a man who committed his life to being a hunter, skilled carver, master chef & extreme foodie.
#trudeauelogiesJack the Ripper was truly one of a kind who left his mark on everyone he met.
#trudeauelogiesHahaha!
Jill Stein is raising money to obtain a second opinion on whether Fidel is really dead, and the Clinton campaign has announced that it is joining the effort.
To compound this recall how bluntly disrespectful Castro was to Obama after Obama’s historic Cuba visit in an attempt to restore diplomatic relations. I realize a lot of people here might not want to hear this, but Obama really extended himself in trying to be constructively diplomatic and a reform conciliator in his trip. However, despite Obama’s genuine good faith effort he essentially got egg thrown on his face and it showed the intransigence of the Castro regime. It further lowered my view of Obama in how he didn’t stand up for himself and further showed weak deference in his post Cuba meeting commentary and his condolence statement upon Castro’s death.
Is there a #obamaeuologies? There should be. His was on the same level as Trudeau’s.
During the early 90’s, I lived and worked in Moscow and traveled throughout the former Soviet Union. As I witnessed the ravages of 70+ years of Communism, I remembered Kissinger’s comment, “Russia is a military giant but an economic dwarf.” Still with me are the memories of walking into a “grocery store” and nearly keeling over from the smell of spoiling food, because the store had no refrigeration system. Or visiting another grocery store, where people’s bills were totaled on an abacus, and meat was chopped on tree stumps by women with axes in their hands. My Russian assistant, although paid in US dollars, could not afford a washer/dryer, and did her laundry in a bathtub before the hot water was turned off at 10pm by the state utility.
If Cuba is anything like what I witnessed during those years in the former Soviet Union, then Trump is spot-on in his comments and our soon-to-be former president Obama remains perpetually clueless. His foreign policy naïveté has made this world a far more dangerous place than it was eight years ago. Counting the days until he is gone from the White House.
What you witnessed is what I was taught in elementary school, and we should go back to teaching it. By age 8, I knew the evils of communism and I knew socialism when I saw it. The kids in our schools since the 1970s have no idea. Hence Sanders. What did you do for a living, @politicalwoman? Sounds interesting!
That is quite an overly gentle euphemism for the reality.
I don’t even know what it means to say “our prayers are with” someone. But a lot of people say it and they usually mean well. And when it’s said it it’s usually not an appropriate time to raise questions like that.
I’m not sure that President Obama means well, though, so I’ll raise it here.
RightAngles – In answer to your question, I was first sent to Moscow by the USDA as fiscal oversight officer for a $165 million humanitarian aid program after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I was an appointee in Bush 41 Administration. After he left office, I took a position with a US trade association as their Moscow office director and was given the task of rebuilding our commodity market in Russia and other Soviet republics. They had gone from Exportkhleb, a central buying agency, to everyone wants a piece of the action. One of the most interesting times of my life, and also interesting is how you become more American when you’re abroad than when you sometimes are at home.
This is a good first step. Maybe in a few months the editors will be able to put “agree” and “Trump” in the same sentence. But any progress is good to see.