It looks like the US is finally restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba...

Obama letting his inner Marxist freak flag fly as he walks out the door, keeping people in that island prison.

The pettiness of this move is hard to top. Like trashing the place before you get evicted.

 

For the record, I lean more to agreeing with this decision, but...

Precisely the point and this was a complete dick move by Obama. He went against his own personal conviction just to stick it to Trump. Further he fears no retaliation because he waited until after the election and Cubans tend to vote right. No way he would have done this before the election in fears of losing Florida.

This is the exact reason why liberals continue to lose ground to the nut jobs on the right. As I said before, liberalism used to be about helping the disparaged. This was nothing more than a retaliation tool. Obama could have easily left office and let Trump handle this. This just shows Obama really didn't give a **** about Mexicans and Syrian refugees other than gaining political posturing.

 

One final (I hope) politically motivated dick move after many broken promises by this administration.

 

It's the right thing to do, but politically...

Just said that I can make the argument that it could be a better political move to not do this and pressure Trump admin to. So is it a dick personal move or just a continuing of normalization? The answer lies in people view of Obama himself, and not the actual change.

 

Not sure why you think this is the right thing to do. Were you in favor of sending people who escaped East Germany back to where they came? Damn, people are being held captive down there on that island.

 

We had a special rule just for Cuba and it was part of our strategy to isolate them during the cold war. As part of normalization with Cuba, we eventually would remove that special rule. So, anyone (afaik, unless there are other special rules for other region) coming to the US faces the same rules now, with no special exception. Asylum is still available, as it is for all.

 

Why not do it last year or last summer. Why now? Answer that and you see clearly that Obama is a political d******d playing politics with people's lives.

 

I can take some guess, but the true answer is I don't know. But if you sure you know, when you don't, you also see why I said, people's opinion of Obama deliver the answer.

 

So we can't speculate when it comes to Obama, I see.

 

You can. Speculate is exactly that. Would I hold a strong opinion based on speculation? Probably not, but it depends on the level of speculation.

 

It doesn't seem that long ago when rightwing nutcase types were actually opposed to illegal immigration.

 

Its so Ironic they hate the mexicans, but the cubans are ok.

 

It's about time they changed this rule. Cubans shouldn't get special treatment. It was another stupid law from the Bill Clinton era. The more we see the results of his Presidency the more horrible he looks.

 

"lol" stupid law from Bill Clinton era. This law went back to the 60's.

 

Yes and no--this particular revision was from the Clinton era, we used to intercept them at sea and allow immediate asylum/citizenship:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_feet,_dry_feet_policy

 

Its a flat out no. Its not ending anything from the Clinton administration. Its ending the 50 year policy that if a Cuban lands on US soil, they are treated as refugees.

 

except until Obama changed the law, this was LEGAL immigration which most conservatives and liberals find acceptable.

 

Previously it was a form of asylum seeking for political refugees. With normalized diplomatic relations, this refugee policy can no longer exist. Unless Cuba renegs on its end then there is no need for the special treatment.

Of course you have dumbassess like REEKO who were so jealous of that whole being a political refugee thing to the point that he actually hates Cubans. #shitmisguidedhillarysupporterswouldthink

 

The Cubans I know are down-to-earth, hardworking people that love the freedom this country provides. So I kinda like em....

 

That's funny, when I saw the news, I told myself Obama was doing Trump a favor. Ending the Cuban immigration policy was always going to be politically hard. It'd be tough for the president who ends it to win Florida. But, keeping the policy doesn't align with normalizing relations with Cuba (which Obama wants) nor with tightening up immigration (which Trump wants). By Obama doing it now, he protects Trump from having to choose between criticism from hardline Cuban-Americans and criticism from opposition to hardline immigration enforcement. This way is better for Trump. The only fault I think Trump could find is that he did it mid-January instead of before Christmas. So close to the transition, Trump might still get some pressure to reverse the decision.