The Patriot Post® · The Negotiator Strikes Again

Once again, Barack Obama has demonstrated his brand of “diplomacy,” which can only be described as “on my knees” statesmanship. He makes Neville Chamberlain look like Muhammad Ali.

After meeting with Raul Castro and other Latin American leaders over the weekend, our fearless leader announced he would be removing Cuba from the list of states supporting terrorists — his first move toward normalizing relations with Cuba. This comes on the heels of 18 months’ worth of secret meetings between Obama’s and Castro’s negotiators. Considering what came of the negotiations, we can’t understand why it took 18 month, or even 18 days.

Obama reassured Congress that Cuba “has not provided any support for international terrorism” for at least the last six months, and, furthermore, “has provided assurances it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.” And if you believe that we have some beautiful property in the Whitewater development at rock bottom prices.

As Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen observes, “There will be no mention from the White House of terrorists being protected and supported by the Castro regime, such as Joanne Chesimard — who murdered a New Jersey state trooper and was named in 2013 by Obama’s own FBI as one of its Most Wanted Terrorists. There will be no mention of the 70 other U.S. fugitives that Obama’s own State Department reports ‘The Cuban government continued to harbor’ while providing ‘support such as housing, food ration books, and medical care’ — or of the Spanish and Colombian terrorists receiving similar support from the Castro brothers.”

For example, Cuba supports the terrorist group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Spanish acronym FARC), which killed 10 soldiers within 24 hours of Obama removing Cuba from the terrorism sponsor list.

Obama’s move puts him at odds with the previous 10 presidents — both Democrat and Republican — who have all recognized that Cuba’s anti-American, despotic communist government terrorizes its formerly prosperous, hard-working people, keeps them in poverty, and locks up political dissenters who often languish for years in Cuban prison holes.

The ignorance of the American public is Obama’s best hope. Leftmedia newsreaders cheer Obama’s “courageous” move to finally recognize our island neighbor, which they say has suffered under the U.S. embargo and its other unjust policies. At first, a majority of low-information Americans agree that Obama is doing the right thing. But when told that Cuba is harboring Russian ships in its ports, opposition for normalization rises to 58%. And, Thiessen notes, when told that Cuba “attempts to smuggle 240 tons of weaponry to North Korea, opposition jumps to 63 percent and support plummets to 26 percent. When … told that Cuba is harboring a cop-killer and terrorists, opposition jumps to 63 percent and support plummets to 23 percent … and when asked whether Cuba’s designation as a supporter of terrorism should be maintained because it harbors terrorists, respondents agreed 68 percent to 16 percent.”

Americans aren’t quite as dumb as you think, Señior Obama.

Being the consummate negotiator he is, as demonstrated with the Iranians, Obama displays his brilliant “give all, take nothing” diplomacy as he moves toward the goal of normalization. Castro refuses to complete the deal until the U.S. pulls out of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and, of course, our president would gladly oblige if that pesky Congress weren’t in the way. The military also sees Gitmo as essential to our national defense.

There also remains the small issue of congressional approval on the way to his lifting the trade embargo and later recognizing Cuba. But Obama doesn’t often concern himself with the niceties of constitutionality, so he could very well decide to recognize Cuba without Congress. Sadly, Congress will probably blather about it but do nothing else.

Obama has angered many Americans, including politicians on both sides of the aisle, with his apologizing to dictators for America’s offenses and now with his kissing up to the Castro regime.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), whose parents came to America from Cuba just before his birth, said, “President Obama’s actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), also born of Cuban immigrants, likewise slammed Obama’s actions. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Rubio wrote that Obama’s giving Castro’s regime diplomatic legitimacy “isn’t just bad for the oppressed Cuban people or for the millions who live in exile and lost everything at the hands of the dictatorship. Mr. Obama’s new Cuba policy is a victory for oppressive governments the world over and will have real, negative consequences for the American people.”

We have to say that all this comes as no surprise. Obama did promise to fundamentally transform the country, and his communist mentoring means he must lean in that direction. Actually, many people have suggested that’s where he stands. As Red State’s Erick Erickson writes, Obama’s “mentor, communist Frank Marshall Davis, would be proud of him.”

This article has been updated.