That was one for the ages!
"Obama flops his wrist as he and Cuban President Raul Castro share awkward embrace in Havana."
"President Obama gave a historic press conference with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana on Monday, and things could not have ended more awkwardly."
"As Castro closed off the volley of questions about political prisoners and human rights issues in Cuba, he went in for a weird handshake — if you could even call it a handshake — with Obama in a bizarre photo flop."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/president-obama-raul-castro-share-awkward-embrace-article-1.2572294
Nerdy Wonka had a great tweet about The Handshake:
"President Castro: Look at us. We're buddies!"
"President Obama: No, Bro. No.#ObamaenCuba #CubaVisit"
"But in those four crucial years from 1993 to 1996, neither the Cuban-American lobby or the Cuban-American vote, as important as they are, fully explain why the embargo continued to survive. Rather, the decisive event came in 1996."
"That February, Castro's military shot down two private planes flown by members of a refugee organization that had reportedly previously dropped fliers over Cuba, and four Cuban-Americans were killed. The shootdown outraged Americans and moved popular and political opinion against opening relations. The following month, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Helms-Burton Act, which restricted the president's ability to end the embargo without Congressional approval and essentially promised to keep it in place, even if it didn't work."
Popular support for Helms-Burton was so strong that Clinton signed it, even though the law limited his own authority over Cuba policy. Pushing the bill was a politically brilliant move by Cuba hard-liners, including the Cuban-American community, but it could not have happened without Castro's decision to shoot down those two planes — and the moment of widespread American outrage against him that it had sparked.
"In explaining his decision to sign the bill, Clinton later wrote in his memoir: "[It] was good election-year politics in Florida, but it undermined whatever chance I might have if I won a second term to lift the embargo in return for positive changes in Cuba."
"Obama flops his wrist as he and Cuban President Raul Castro share awkward embrace in Havana."
"President Obama gave a historic press conference with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana on Monday, and things could not have ended more awkwardly."
"As Castro closed off the volley of questions about political prisoners and human rights issues in Cuba, he went in for a weird handshake — if you could even call it a handshake — with Obama in a bizarre photo flop."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/president-obama-raul-castro-share-awkward-embrace-article-1.2572294
Nerdy Wonka had a great tweet about The Handshake:
"President Castro: Look at us. We're buddies!"
"President Obama: No, Bro. No.#ObamaenCuba #CubaVisit"
"It was a great moment for the two countries. As Rachel Maddow showed last night, since JFK himself, Democrats have tried and failed to normalize relations with Cuba. Although the GOP is, of course, claiming that this somehow we are giving up so much for so little-what are we giving up?-you can make the case that the Castro regime has been helped by the embargo-in terms of maintaining domestic political control."
In 1996, Bill Clinton had hoped to start to open relations with Cuba but then Castro killed the chances with aggressive actions:
"But in those four crucial years from 1993 to 1996, neither the Cuban-American lobby or the Cuban-American vote, as important as they are, fully explain why the embargo continued to survive. Rather, the decisive event came in 1996."
"That February, Castro's military shot down two private planes flown by members of a refugee organization that had reportedly previously dropped fliers over Cuba, and four Cuban-Americans were killed. The shootdown outraged Americans and moved popular and political opinion against opening relations. The following month, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Helms-Burton Act, which restricted the president's ability to end the embargo without Congressional approval and essentially promised to keep it in place, even if it didn't work."
Popular support for Helms-Burton was so strong that Clinton signed it, even though the law limited his own authority over Cuba policy. Pushing the bill was a politically brilliant move by Cuba hard-liners, including the Cuban-American community, but it could not have happened without Castro's decision to shoot down those two planes — and the moment of widespread American outrage against him that it had sparked.
"In explaining his decision to sign the bill, Clinton later wrote in his memoir: "[It] was good election-year politics in Florida, but it undermined whatever chance I might have if I won a second term to lift the embargo in return for positive changes in Cuba."
http://www.vox.com/2014/12/18/7408819/cuba-deal-us-embargo
For the future of a post Castro Cuba, this book by Eugene Robinson has some real insight.
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Dance-Havana-Eugene-Robinson-ebook/dp/B009NG2B90/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1458635228&sr=8-7&keywords=eugene+robinson
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