Regular readers may recall a couple of weeks ago, when I was excited about Wesley Clark’s announced position on the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. I had an interesting follow-up email I thought I’d share.
To review, Clark joined his Dem rivals at a CNN/Rock the Vote candidates’ forum in Boston. A young man asked Clark a straightforward question. “[T]he U.S. imposes an ineffective and inhumane embargo against Cuba,” the questioner said. “If you were elected president, would you change this policy?”
Clark explained that he’s against embargos and believes trade with Cuba would improve the lives of the Cuban people who have suffered under Castro.
“When you isolate a country, you strengthen the dictators in it,” Clark said. “If you want to change the dictators, you’ve got to open it up so ordinary people in those countries can see what they’re missing in the rest of the world, and gain strength and ideas from everybody else. And they’ll take control of their future. We’re not going to reward Fidel Castro, but we are going to make sure that Cubans have a democracy and they have the same rights as everybody else on this planet.”
I’m mentioning this again today because I received a great email from the same gentleman who asked the question of Clark at the forum, who contacted me as a result of my post on the topic. (Isn’t the Internet wonderful?)
The young man is Dan Sinrod, a paralegal who lives in Boston, who wrote to thank me for bringing attention to this issue.
“I am the ‘young man’ who asked Clark the question about Cuba, and I too was very pleased with his response,” Sinrod explained. “Before the debate, I was supporting Howard Dean, now I am giving my full support to General Clark.”
Dan, that makes two of us.