Posted on 06/25/2008 6:01:03 AM PDT by Aristotelian
Eight years after the furor over the repatriation of Elian Gonzalez to Cuba possibly cost Al Gore the state of Florida in his 537-vote loss to George W. Bush, the international custody saga has returned to haunt another Democratic presidential nominee: Barack Obama.
Having two top advisers who played key roles in the episode — Greg Craig, who represented Gonzalez's father in Cuba, and Eric Holder, then a Clinton administration deputy attorney general when federal agents stormed the Miami home of Gonzalez’s relatives to remove the then-6-year-old and return him to Cuba — Obama now finds himself on the wrong side of an emotional issue in a battleground state.
The wound reopened again last week after Gonzalez returned to the headlines in South Florida following a report in a Cuban communist youth newspaper that he has joined Cuba’s Young Communist Union.
Miami-based Republican political consultant Ana Navarro said the stature of Holder and Craig in the Obama campaign “shows a tone-deafness to the Cuban American community's concerns.”
“Elian Gonzalez cost Al Gore Florida and the presidency,” she added.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
“The wound reopened again last week after Gonzalez returned to the headlines in South Florida following a report in a Cuban communist youth newspaper that he has joined Cuba’s Young Communist Union.”
Obama was already a member of Cuba’s Young Communist Union.
This is not the Elian Gonzalez I knew
This is not the Elian Gonzalez I knew
This is not the Elian Gonzalez I knew
This is not the Elian Gonzalez I knew
I take it this is not the Elian Gonzalez you knew.
You can say that again!
I remember thinking back then, “Watch, little Elian will grow up to be a gangbanger in Cuba in 10 years”. Well, he just joined the Young Communist party. Close enough.
What makes you say that? I think it depends on the meaning of the word “knew”....
Do the buses still run in Cuba?
As for the Cuban-American vote, it’s predominantly Republican in Florida. The rest of the Cuban exiles live in NY where an (R) vote becomes insignificant.
Since most Cubans have lived directly under Communist rule, I think it’s fair to say they recognize a Commie when they see one! They won’t be voting for the type of Marxist-leftist propagandizing change that destroyed their homeland 52 years ago. The finalization of Elian’s Communist indoctrination and the Obama team members responsibility for Elian’s plight reinforces the bitter hatred Cuban exiles have for Communism and redistributive forms of government. The Cuban vote would be instrumental in defeating BO in Florida, a key battleground state.
Eight years after the furor over the repatriation of Elian Gonzalez to Cuba possibly cost Al Gore the state of Florida in his 537-vote loss to George W. Bush...
To put numbers on it, it is estimated that the Elian Gionzalez affair cost Gore approximately 70,000 votes from the Cuban-Americans.
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