Republican senator says U.S. must rethink Cuba ban

[Leo The Cleo]

http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2009/02/23/2009-02-23_republican_senator_says_us_must_rethink_-2.html

The U.S. policy of shunning communist Cuba by imposing a strict trade embargo has failed to prod the island nation toward democracy and should be re-evaluated, according to the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"We must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuban regime in a way that enhances U.S. interests," wrote Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, in a report dated Monday.

The report lends new weight to a bipartisan view in Congress that Raul Castro's rise to power has opened a window for U.S.-Cuban relations.

President Barack Obama has promised a fresh look at the U.S. policy toward communist Cuba. He says he would be open to meeting with Castro, who took over as Cuba's president for his ailing brother, Fidel.

Obama also supports easing limitations on the number of visits a

[RethugAssKicker]

1. A Republican making sense ?????

Has hell frozen over ?

[democrattotheend]

3. Lugar is fairly reasonable

I won't call him a moderate, but I'd call him a reasonable Republican. He makes sense every now and then, especially on foreign policy.

[Leo The Cleo]

4. This seems a bit calculated

I wonder what Luger has up his sleeve.

[craigmatic]

2. Lugar and Obama agree that petty politics ends at water's edge

According to something I read in newsweek Lugar was impress and felt flattered when Senator Obama would actually sit through his long winded speeches in the foreign relations committee. They still disagree on domestic policy but seem to agree on foreign policy.

[damonm]

5. Lugar & Obama have worked together before

From Wikipedia:
"Obama introduced two initiatives bearing his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons,<81> and the Coburn–Obama Transparency Act, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending."

(emphasis mine)

[bertman]

6. "Lugar and Obama agree that petty politics ends at water's edge". I guess that means

it's okay to be petty as long as they're standing on dry land. Very reassuring. Sorry, couldn't resist the snarkage.

Wasn't Lugar the Senator that Obama worked with to get the nuclear weapon's non-proliferation bill through? Never mind. Damonm got to it first.