Hawks Behind the Dove: Who Makes Obama's Foreign Policy?

• Author: Shorrock, Tim
• Position: Barack Obama - Essay

Cuba's dramatic announcement last February that Fidel Castro was stepping down as head of the Cuban government presented Barack Obama with an unprecedented opportunity to establish his foreign policy credentials and set himself apart from Hillary Clinton, as well as the Bush Administration and its heir-apparent, John McCain.

It should have been an easy shot: President Bush said U.S. policy toward Cuba, particularly the longstanding U.S. embargo, would not change one iota until "free and fair elections" were held in Cuba and the country had embraced his vision of democracy. McCain quickly echoed Bush's Cold War declaration, which basically amounts to a call for regime change in Havana.

Clinton, asked during a debate if she would be willing to sit down with Raul Castro, Fidel's successor, replied in similar language. Not "without some evidence that [Cuba] will demonstrate the kind of progress that is in our interest," she said, pointing out later through a spokesperson that she "supports the embargo and our current policy toward Cuba."

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Obama, true to his pledge to change the U.S. approach to the world, said he would meet with Cuban leaders "without preconditions" because it's important for the United States "not just to talk to its friends but also to talk to its enemies." Despite calls from some of his advisers for America to trade with Cuba just as it does with China and Vietnam, however, Obama has been silent on lifting the embargo, though he has called for getting rid of restrictions on remittances and family travel to that country.

More recently, Obama has completely abandoned the skepticism about the embargo he expressed during his 2004 run for the Senate. In a May 23 speech to the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami, he flatly declared that, as President, he will "maintain the embargo. It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: If you take significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations." The declaration drew cheers from the virulently anti-Castro crowd.

With Cuba, therefore, we have the basic outline of the foreign policy debate of 2008: more of the same from the Republicans, a generally hawkish approach from Clinton, and a nuanced stance from Obama that underscores his differences with both Clinton and McCain while demonstrating his fealty towards U.S. national security interests and the Democratic foreign policy mainstream.

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