Obama, Cuba & 2016

Obama's Cuban Legacy
{Updated: Wednesday, January 13th, 2016}

    Mary Anastasia O'Grady of the Wall Street Journal revealed yesterday -- January 12, 2016 -- why Barack Obama is a great President and why the nation and the world should fear that a right-wing thug might replace him in January of 2017. In yesterday's Wall Street Journal on the eve of President Obama's State of the Union address that night, Ms. O'Grady wrote a scathingly distorted article typically spewing right-wing vitriol and anti-Obama propaganda. She ended the article with these exact words: "But Obama is busy about shaping his legacy. I'm not sure why: He's the first president to bow to a Saudi king, the first to open the door for Iran to get the bomb, and the first to prop up the Castros even while they hold a stolen Hellfire missile. His place in history is already secure." INDEED IT IS!!! President Obama's place in history and his already secure legacy have been and are vital because his two-term presidency, and hopefully his subsequent legacy, has and will help thwart the right-wing thugs that Ms. O'Grady champions. High-profile propagandists, I truly believe, demean America and the free world. 

Photo courtesy: REUTERS/ENRIQUE DE LA OSA.

        This photo was taken Monday -- Jan. 11th, 2016 -- and shows Lilianne Ploumen, the Netherlands Foreign Trade Minister, making an important announcement at Cuba's deepened and refurbished Mariel Port. She announced that Unilever, a Dutch-British company, will build a $35 million factory at Mariel's Economic Zone 28 miles southwest of Havana. The factory will make Sedal Shampoo, Rexona Deoderant, Omo Detergent, Lux Soap, and Close-Up Toothpaste. Ms. Ploumen was accompanied by 60 business executives and she said more Dutch companies will invest at Mariel. Unilever is the 9th and largest company to sign on in the Mariel Zone that is a key to Cuba's economic future. Ms. Ploumen said, "President Obama's advancements in normalizing relations with Cuba makes for a brighter day all around." Unilever will own 60% of the new factory to Cuba's 40%. Till recently, foreign companies were restricted to less than 50% ownership in Cuba, but the island is changing fast.

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President Obama: "The Republicans are peddling fiction."
"Lift the Cuban embargo." 

{State of the Union address; January 12, 2016}

       Tuesday -- January 12th, 2016 -- a decent man and a great President, Barack Obama, made his 8th and final State of the Union message. He discussed his two-term presidency and his hope for the future in a very tumultuous world. And he mentioned his legacy, which includes Cuba. Of the last eleven American presidents, Mr. Obama has shown the most decency, the most intelligence, and the most guts in trying to correct a Cuban policy that, perhaps, each year since the 1950s has caused more harm to the worldwide image of the United States and democracy than any other issue. His Herculean efforts to normalize relations with Cuba have, among other things, included the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961. Many of his other efficacious and humane Cuban plans have been...and will continue to be...blocked by a dysfunctional, Republican-dominated, self-serving, right-wing U. S. Congress, which also, with derogatory impunity, has opposed a caring President's efforts to provide affordable health care for all Americans, to enlist sane gun control methods to curb at least some of the unimaginable slaughter that occurs daily in America's great cities, and to narrow the abominable disparity between the rich and poor in the world's great democracy.

         When Mr. Obama was still a long-shot to be President of the United States, I had been a lifelong conservative Republican. His principled and astute campaigning convinced me that right-wingers had usurped my Party. In a two-party system, that left me one choice -- Mr. Obama's Democratic Party. Now into the 8th and final year of his presidency, he has more than fulfilled my expectations of him. The State of the U. S. Union today -- on January 12th, 2016 -- is in a better and more decent situation because of him.

       President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba have curbed right-wing U. S. assaults on 11 million innocents Cubans on the nearby island, and improved America's image around the world. Except for the right-wing tentacles in control of the U. S. Congress, he would have done more to improve U.S.-Cuban relations. But decades from now, what he did and what he tried to do in regards to Cuba will be heralded by democracy-lovers as a linchpin of his overall legacy that should forever be celebrated.

         Just before he leaves office in January of 2017 as America's 44th President, Barack Obama will turn 55-years-old on August 4th of this year. He'll still be in his prime and his two daughters will soon be away in college. As a former President, Mr. Obama will...make speeches, write books, and likely become President of a prestigious University, where he'll probably resume his old job as a Law Professor, either in the USA or the UK. But in 2017, conveniently, there is a job opening that Mr. Obama aspires to in the state of New York -- Secretary-General of the United Nations!! That position would be perfect for him. Unfortunately, that's why Benjamin Netanyahu and right-wingers in the U. S. Congress are already waging fierce campaigns to line up international opposition to the world's best candidate to be the next UN Secretary-General.

And Speaking of Cuba:

Photo courtesy: Robert Rausch/The New York Times.

       The New York Times this week advised its readers that Cuba's plush Valley of Vinales, depicted above, is one of the Top 10 places in the entire world to visit in this New Year of 2016. The NY Times said, "It's a lush valley of wooded hills and fields of dark red, with impressive limestone outcrops." I've been there and totally agree!

            The limestone mountains in Vinales Valley are unique in all the world and the world's top mountain-climbing clubs list it as a top priority for their eager members.

The Main Street in Vinales, Cuba.

      If you follow the advice of the New York Times and visit Vinales in 2016, there are neat, safe, and quaint hotel rooms as well as rooms in private homes you could rent.

Vinales is a nice, bucolic drive southwest of Havana.

      Cuba's men's volleyball team has ample reason to celebrate. They went to Edmonton and upset a powerful Canadian team in three straight sets -- 25-15, 25-21, and 25-21. The victory clinched a spot in this summer's Rio Olympics for Cuba!!!

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