Hillary and Obama BOTH Flip on Cuba - to the Right

The Hill reported this morning on the flip (or "pivot") that Hillary Clinton has done on Cuba. Hillary's "fact squad" struck back (after the polls in Florida were closed) defending herself and claiming that that Obama has a flop of his own.

Hillary voted to allow US citizens the freedom to travel to Cuba in 2003 and '05, but on a recent questionairre said she doesn't support that (basic human) right. Obama has voted to end the embargo in the past, but said he supports it now.

Big surprise right? Democratic candidates move to the right on Cuba once running for National office. Some hoped that the democratic candidates might not pander to Miami as much because the primary was invalid. But no, the American people and common sense continue to have no input into the Cuba issue. Florida is too important in November.

Hillary tries to weasal out of her flip (and perhaps intentionally confuse the issue) by claiming that the old votes were consistent because she "has always been in favor of easing travel restrictions for humanitarian reasons." In fact, her votes were not humanitarian, but strategic - that they would help bring along regime change in Cuba by providing a "rebuke". She also gets extra nasty points for her campaign's attempt to sneak a lie past reporters. Before her fact squad responded in writing, her spokesman tried to claim to reporters that her votes were for family travel only (when they were for ALL US travel).

Obama's boldness to vote for dropping the entire embargo was one of the first things that attracted me to him. It is a shame he felt compelled to make his position more palatable in Florida, but that is the sad political reality.