It has been 88 years since we have enjoyed a peaceful interlude with Cuba, our neighboring Caribbean nation to our south. Finally, an American President has once again visited our island nation/neighbor located just 90 miles southeast of Key West, Florida.
President Obama and a contingent of business leaders arrived at José Martí Airport, Sunday, March 20, in Havana, Cuba. Valiantly holding an umbrella for his wife MIchele Obama during an afternoon shower, our president behaved like a real statesman with impeccable manners. His arrival was covered by all news networks, as per usual. The valiance towards his wife was duly noted by the visibly bored Fox anchors, as if he unexpectedly measured up to their high standards. That's where they concluded any reverence to our POTUS and commenced with their general disrespect.
In an effort to denounce this historic diplomatic event, Fox scheduled an appearance with a rather obscure figure to discredit the administration. Eric Shawn, Fox weekend host, interviewed a man who was the son of a victim of a politically motivated US-Puerto Rican Independence-terrorist attack in NYC, 40 years ago. The alleged perpetrators of the attack eventually wound up in Cuba and for that, our two nations' diplomacy should cease to ever exist(?).
Joseph O'Connor is the son of Frank Connor. He was only nine years old when his father was one of four innocent people killed by an explosion at the Fraunces Tavern in NY's Financial District. This was a far more obscure case of foreign terrorism in the Wall Street area than the 9/11/2001 attacks. But this incident is significant enough to destroy relations forever?
The terrorists' motive was Puerto Rican Independence, and because the fugitives sought and received asylum in Cuba, Fox "News" concluded that Joseph Connor was a uniquely qualified critic who could disparage the entirety of President Obama's historic diplomatic mission with sufficient credulity. Saudi Arabia has given the US plenty of reason to sever ties, due to human rights and prisoner abuses. A few political prisoners are seldom enough cause to discontinue diplomatic relations. But this is President Obama, and the rules are not the same that apply to White, Republican Presidents.
We could expound upon the absurdity of the notion that cauterizing US-Cuban diplomacy, especially in this time of economic hardship, is ludicrous, to say the least. But we won't, as this channel is not based in reality. In fact, they fail to mention that the resumes of the delegation of business giants whom accompanied President Obama to Cuba are rather impressive.
All of the financial gains to our country have been carefully weighed by our president, enough so that they outweigh the deleterious predictions of Cuban-American nationals. Fox "News" has no desire to assist the Democratic Obama Administration by promoting any positive economic developments with a Communist nation. They can only be viewed in a negative fashion, and that's from corporate HQ.
The economic benefits to our economy, as a result of this mission, will seem anomalous and foreign to Fox viewers. In fact, the specificity of US-Cuban policy is too exhaustive for the GOP debates thus far, and only id-based issues have been addressed. This makes the whole Cuba trip rather acrimonious to FOX viewers and the historic visit will always be presented as a suspicious, surreptitious, Socialist affair.
Those who forecast the substantial earning potential that accompanies the assimilation of the Cuban Economy with our own, realize that this is much more than a symbolic venture, thus they are of no consequence to fact-free, GOP-TV (FOX).
This historic trip is designed to cement the Administration's diplomatic outreach to Cuba, making it hard for any future president to return to the half-century old policy of isolation that Obama and his team consider a failure.
Only Congress can lift the trade embargo against Cuba. But over the past 15 months, the Administration has been chipping away at it, easing restrictions on both travel and commerce.
The number of Americans traveling to Cuba jumped nearly 80 percent last year. That's expected to increase as airlines resume scheduled service later this year, with up to 110 flights a day.
It's no matter that the trip will indubitably be propitious to our nation's economic aspirations, the powers that be at Fox "News" must vilify the aggregate objectives of Obama's historic visit. Their objectives are similar to the Republican-hosted traitorous meeting which occurred simultaneously with Obama's 2009 Inauguration.
As long as a Democrat is acting as POTUS. Who really cares what's best for the 99.9% when the 0.1% own the media? Certainly not Fox's demographic, as they've been carefully groomed to be as ignorant as possible.
I wonder what a GOP Voter, sadly afflicted with lung cancer, might think of Cuba when they realize Cuban MDs have found a vaccine to curtail the far-too-prevalent disease and we can finally obtain it here too? They won't hear the news at Fox "News," that's for certain. The Fox viewer might need to reach out to his or her Democratic Representative for information that might actually help a person like them, one of the 99%.
