Jimmy Carter: Obama-Castro Handshake 'Was Something Significant'

[ProSense]

Jimmy Carter: Obama-Castro Handshake 'Was Something Significant'

While some have downplayed the significance of President Barack Obama's handshake with Cuban President Raul Castro Tuesday at Nelson Mandela's memorial service, at least one former U.S. president hopes the gesture is a harbinger of things to come.

Former President Jimmy Carter told CNN that the handshake "was something significant" and expressed hope that it "will be an omen for the future":

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JUST IN-Jimmy Carter to CNN on Castro/Obama: "I think it was something significant...I hope that will be an omen for the future."
10:28 AM - 10 Dec 2013

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Shortly before he eulogized Mandela at FNB Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, Obama shook hands with Castro, along with other world leaders.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jimmy-carter-obama-castro-handshake-was-something-significant

[octoberlib]

1. K&R!

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

2. It was a step forward.

Our foreign policy has long been held hostage by an outdated approach.

[polichick]

3. Carter's right (as usual) - now if Pres. Obama would only...

shake off his third way/Wall Street ties, he might be the transformational president he's spoken of.

[JoePhilly]

7. The search for unrelated outrages following any good dead.

Like clockwork.

[polichick]

8. Where's the "outrage" - baseless idiotic accusations, like clockwork.

[ProSense]

4. President Obama should have

lectured Castro, according to Senate dimwit.

Rubio Complains That Obama Didn't Take Castro To Task For Denying 'Basic Freedoms'

President Obama could have at least squeezed in a brief lecture on human rights when he extended his hand to the leader of a longtime adversary, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Tuesday.

Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants, was complaining about Obama's handshake with Cuban President Raul Castro, a brief interaction that took place at Nelson Mandela's memorial service in South Africa.

"If he was going to shake his hand, he should have asked him about those basic freedoms Mandela was associated with that are denied in Cuba," Rubio told ABC News.

Rubio's response represents the first real criticism Obama has received from a major Republican for the handshake. Former President Jimmy Carter called the handshake "something significant" and expressed hope that it "will be an omen for the future."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rubio-complains-that-obama-didn-t-take-castro-to-task-for-denying-basic-freedoms

[awoke_in_2003]

5. He (Rubio) needs to change his name to Rube...

To quote the great Bugs- "what an ultra maroon"

[avebury]

10. Obama is the embodiment of a statesman who knows

how to behave on the world stage. Rubio is a childish idiot with no understanding of proper decorum at a international memorial for a well loved man. Nelson Mandela would have saw nothing wrong with President Obama shaking Castro's hand.

Until the Republicans understand how to behave in a civilized society, they will always be losers on the international stage.

[IL Lib]

11. +1 n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

6. First Syria...

then Iran, and now (maybe) starting to talk to Cuba. I never thought I would see such things.

[Cha]

9. I hope so.. I know it made all the

right people pissed off. Those who want war war war.

[malaise]

12. Yep that's what I called it

That how big men behave - ReTHUGs are school yard bullies.

[ProSense]

13. Obama says U.S. needs to update policies on Cuba (Nov. 8)

Obama says U.S. needs to update policies on Cuba

By Mark Felsenthal

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday that it may be time for the United States to revise its policies toward Cuba, against which it has had an embargo for more than half a century.

"We have to be creative and we have to be thoughtful and we have to continue to update our policies," he said at a fundraising event in the Miami area.

"Keep in mind that when Castro came to power I was just born, so the notion that the same policies that we put in place in 1961 would somehow still be as effective as they are today in the age of the Internet, Google and world travel doesn't make sense," he added, referring to Fidel Castro, the leader of the Cuban revolution.

Incremental changes in U.S. Cuba policy have allowed greater communication with people on the island and the transfer of remittances, Obama said.

- more -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/09/us-usa-obama-cuba-idUSBRE9A802620131109