Obama in Miami

Rhetoric at the CANF: Obama speaks to Cuban-Americans

On May 23, I heard Senator Barack Obama deliver a speech for the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) during a luncheon at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Miami. The luncheon was in remembrance of Cuba’s independence. What I took away from this day I learned, more than anywhere else, in the long line waiting for the valet to deliver my car. It was here that the unedited responses of many a guayabera-clad-young-professional-Cuban-American was overheard by my always open ears.

In this line, the general reaction did not surprise me, though I had hoped for better. “I loved Jorge Mas’s speech; and Marco Rubio never disappoints, but what did you think about Obama? I thought it was a bunch of rhetoric.” That was the general flow of conversation. And suddenly I was filled with a flood of sadness.

I realize that it will be difficult to penetrate what is a thick and stubborn coat of dogma long in the making. I wonder how it is that these people, my people, don’t realize that their stubborn, single-minded ways of thinking about Cuba have not gotten them anywhere in over forty years. Isn’t it time to change the course of thought and come to an understanding that diplomacy is key in dealing with Cuba?

Diplomacy. This was one of Obama’s points, among many. Obama’s point was also to, not only deliver a single-keyed keynote on Cuba, but to talk also about the Americas as a whole. With an understanding that America will not, and cannot, become “a more perfect union” if it does not, in fact, call upon the unity required in the Americas. Those that have heeded the call of the Globalized world have grown with it – the Euro is strong because of a union – the European Union. If America does follow suit, and lead in the Americas toward a similar union then we will fall back (and I daresay,we have already fallen a ways back).

In the same vein: if Cuban-Americans do not meet the changing pulse of the world, then Cuba will never have the freedom these self-same Cuban-Americans have so sought after, so long-talked-about. Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the CANF, said, in a speech leading up to Obama's, that change will come from within the island. But, how can change come from within an island that is sealed off? In order to peel away the layers of imprisonment and barriers, we must seek diplomacy and infiltrate in this way – get inside, before we can “make a change from within.” Without this diplomacy, change will never come.

House Speaker, Marco Rubio, said (also in one of the speeches leading up to Obama's) “we will always be the sons and daughters of exiles.” This is true, and I include myself in this group. I too love the island of Cuba, without ever having set foot –sadly -- on its shores. I too want to see justice for the eight years my grandfather spent as a political prisoner. The only difference between myself and the men in guayaberas in the valet line at the Intercontinental is that I am open to the idea that change is necessary, especially at this juncture in time, when the seemingly infallible voice of Castro has quieted to the lesser force of his brother Raul. Change is inherent to the situation of Cuba, and hence our policies must change.

The men in the valet line mentioned “rhetoric.” They said that Obama was using “rhetoric.” However, Obama’s speech was a clearly outlined and well-structured speech based on FDR’s “Four Freedoms.” Adopting these to the Americas, Obama expressed how he would bring about (using clear examples), Political and Religious freedom; Freedom from want and Freedom from Fear in the Americas. He then went on to say that it would be easy for him to come here to Miami, and do what other leaders have done and offer a slew of false promises to Cuban-Americans: tell them what they want to hear, and then ignore them when they get to Washington (AKA: George W). Instead, Obama voiced his desires for speaking with Raul, using the embargo (which he would keep) as leverage in discussions to advance the purposes of the United States. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio and Jorge Mas Santos claim that even speaking with Raul would be a dramatic “surrender.” Which of these, I ask you, is the “rhetoric?” Rhetoric which is, according to dictionary.com, “an undue use of exaggeration or display; bombast.”

Yes, I too am the daughter of exiles. I too own a guayabera, and I too have defended my Miami-Cubans many times over. The only difference is that I take the advice that Jorge Mas Santos gave to Obama: to “Listen.”

I vow to listen to the times; to the world; and to the need to change our course of action, considering that that which we have clung to for so many years has not allowed us to progress. I hope that our leaders will do the same.

Jorge Mas Santos, when he addressed Obama, told him, very cleverly, that he too had been shaped by the “dreams of [his] father.” His father was Jorge Mas Canosa – which, as his son so eloquently expressed, brought the Cuban struggle from the streets of Miami to the Halls of Washington. The trick now is to take that struggle into the new millennium, appending changes where need be. Listening.