Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calls on Congress to end the trade embargo the U.S. has imposed against Cuba since 1962, Friday, July 31, 2015.

Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calls on Congress to end the trade embargo the U.S. has imposed against Cuba since 1962, Friday, July 31, 2015. Gaston De Cardenas/AP

Clinton Uses Cuba To Attack GOP’s Force-First Foreign Policy

Her Republican rivals are attacking her as a politician from 'yesterday.' She’s using the Cuba thaw to say they’re stuck in the Cold War.

After enduring months of Republican assaults on her foreign-policy record, Hillary Clinton is using the Cuban-U.S. thaw to open her own attack.

On Friday, Clinton called for Congress to lift the longstanding embargo on Cuba in a speech at the university where Cuban-American and Castro hawk Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., teaches, and in the state where former governor Jeb Bush, a more measured opponent of Cuba normalization, forged his political career.

“Most Republican candidates still view Cuba – and Latin America more broadly – through an outdated Cold War lens. Instead of opportunities to be seized, they see only threats to be feared,” she said at Florida International University. “We cannot afford to let out-of-touch, out-of-date partisan ideas and candidates rip away all the progress we’ve made. We can’t go back to cowboy diplomacy and reckless war-mongering. We can’t go back to a go-it-alone foreign policy that views American boots on the ground as a first choice rather than as a last resort. We have paid too high a price.”

By challenging two rivals on their home turf, Clinton sought to reframe her tenure as President Obama’s secretary of state, and open a new stage in her presidential campaign. She had so far kept some distance from her national security experience, allowing a GOP field short on such experience to attempt to tie her to recent foreign policy crises and anxiety about the Islamic State.

In her speech, she counseled a diplomacy-first policy of engagement, realistic but also optimistic. As for her 17 Republican rivals, she lumped them in with the unpopular force-first unilateralism of former President George W. Bush.

Cuba is a safe, but smart, bet for Clinton — just as it was for President Obama to pursue renewed diplomatic relations and give himself a badly needed win for his foreign policy doctrine, which, if less muscular and interventionist than Clinton’s, still has much in common with it.

The politics of the issue have changed dramatically with the demographics of the U.S., particularly Florida. The roughly 2 million Cubans and Cuban-Americans living in the U.S., and 11 million Cubans on the island, would likely benefit from eased economic restrictions if Congress were to lift the embargo. There’s also been a seismic shift in the half-century since U.S.-Cuba relations were broken off. Younger generations are much more supportive of normalizing relations with Cuba, and Cuban-American conservative strongholds like Miami and Florida are increasingly diluted by Puerto Ricans and other groups who don’t necessarily share the same enmity.

Still, most of the Cuban-Americans and Florida representatives in Congress continue to oppose any easing of tensions with Raul Castro’s government. No sooner had Clinton’s campaign staff announced the speech, Republican candidates began to criticize her approach as appeasement.

“After Secretary Clinton's failed ‘reset’ with Putin, now she wants to do a ‘reset’ with Castro,” Rubio said in a statement. “President Obama and Secretary Clinton must learn that appeasement only emboldens dictators and repressive governments, and weakens America's global standing in the 21st century."

After Secretary Clinton's failed ‘reset’ with Putin, now she wants to do a ‘reset’ with Castro.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. 

Bush said earlier Friday, at the National Urban League conference where he shared a stage with Clinton, “[It’s] insulting to many residents of Miami for Hillary Clinton to come here to endorse a retreat in the struggle for democracy in Cuba.”

While the shift in public opinion is unlikely to provoke a Cuban “evolution” in 2016 candidates and senators such as Rubio and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, both of whose parents left Cuba, or Bush, who has deep ties to that community, their opposition is likely to put them on the wrong side of the numbers as the demography shifts.

As Clinton noted, there’s growing bipartisan support in Congress for lifting the embargo and the Obama administration’s moves to reopen dialogue with Castro. She called out House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “It’s time for [Republicans’] leaders to either get on board or get out of the way,” she said.

In portraying Republican thinking — even from a younger generation — as outdated and diplomacy-averse, Clinton turned the tables on a string of attacks from GOP candidates who have sought to package her family name, time in Washington and age as a been-there-done-that, “leader from yesterday,” to use one of Rubio’s favorite lines.

Though GOP leaders have said that their most recent presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, has been vindicated on foreign policy, the strategy Clinton has adopted was brutally effective when Obama wielded it against him in 2012. After Romney declared Russia to be America’s top foe (an assessment since echoed by the top U.S. military officials), Obama shot back, “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”

Clinton acknowledged her own evolution on Cuba, and said she is not naive. When President Bill Clinton tried to engage Fidel Castro, the effort fell apart after the Cuban air force shot down two unarmed U.S. civilian planes. This influenced her work as a senator tightening restrictions on Cuba, she said. “Anyone who thinks we can trust this regime hasn’t learned the lessons of history,” she said. But she also noted it was she who advised Obama as his secretary of state to push for lifting the embargo and restarting talks, finding isolation doesn’t work.

Cuba is also a clearer-cut example for Clinton to cite from her time at the State Department than others where her record has been clouded by recent events, such as Libya or Russia. And beyond hot-button domestic issues in the U.S. such as immigration and border security, the broader region of Latin America is largely uncontested in American presidential politics.

While making an argument for American leadership in the hemisphere, Clinton can also make a play for Latino voters with ties there and for whom immigration and border security are not the top issues. This approach to the region is the antithesis of the Republicans’ far and away front-runner (for now), Donald Trump. “Many Republicans seem to think of Latin America still as a land of crime and coups,” she said. (The one real exception is Jeb Bush, who has sounded a rare note of compassionate conservatism on immigration and has put his Mexican-American family at the center of his campaign.)

“Our unpopular policy towards Cuba held back our influence and leadership. Frankly, it was an albatross around our necks,” Clinton said.

“Too often, we look east, we look west, but we don’t look south.  And no region in the world is more important to our long-term prosperity and security than Latin America,” she continued. “I’m running to build an America for tomorrow, not yesterday.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.