Opinion: Cuban American support for Obama belies community’s image

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Wednesday, 11.07.12
In My Opinion
Cuban American support for Obama belies community’s image

By Fabiola Santiago
[e-mail]

When I saw the magic number Wednesday morning — a stunning 47 percent — it was not as big a surprise to me.

I had seen the momentum of support quietly building for President Barack Obama among one of his most unlikely constituencies — Cuban-Americans in Miami — over this lengthy and hard-fought campaign.

According to exit polls, 47 percent of the Cuban-American vote in Miami-Dade went to the president — a shockingly high number to both Republicans and Democrats and to pollsters and pundits engaging in post-election analysis.

“¡ No me digas! Really, so much?” former state Republican Sen. Roberto Casas of Hialeah said.

He shouldn’t have been so shocked. After all, he and his wife, his brother, his children and spouses all voted for Obama.

More: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/07/3086875/cuban-american-support-for-obama.html#storylink=cpy

[Drunken Irishman]

1. The times ... they are a changin'!

[DCKit]

2. 'Bout fucking time.

My Salvordin BF will welcome the news - Cubans go sane. Welcome to the pack.

[Kolesar]

3. Are we finally at the end of "the Red Scare"?

The Miami Herald was one of the gems in the old Knight Ridder newspaper chain. KR published the only stories that were critical of Shrub's WMD/hate-the-Muslims scare (Stobel and Landay).

[Daniel537]

4. This, combined with Joe Garcia's victory

signals the beginning of the end of GOP domination with Cubans in Florida. Myself, my family and every other Cuban-American i know voted for Obama, and his lifting of the travel restrictions to Cuba played a big role in it. The shift that we always knew was coming has finally arrived.

[flamingdem]

5. What do you think Joe Garcia will do regarding Cuba travel policy?

Has he stated what he'd do yet?

[Daniel537]

7. He says he supports the President's current policy

I haven't heard him state whether or not he supports lifting the travel ban altogether, but he has said that the embargo shouldn't be completely lifted yet, although i tend to believe he said that to avoid having the Cuba issue being the main issue in his election, instead of Rivera's corruption. Either way, his election is a milestone since we've never had a Democratic Cuban-American congressman who supported even some travel to Cuba, and that will probably make a big difference in congress, since right now all the Cuban-Americans there oppose any type of relationship with Cuba and are able to wield that influence to turn other congressman to their side. With Joe i think we'll have a chance at easing relations with Cuba when we eventually take back the House. Lets hope 2014 is a good year for us.

[ocpagu]

6. Very interesting.

Let's hope this is truly a mindset change.

Thank you, Judi.

[joshcryer]

8. I've been saying this and people keep bashing Cuban-Americans.

The Miami mafia is increasingly irrelevant. Boxing all Cuban-Americans into one group simply does us a disservice.