As you might’ve heard, a leading Democratic presidential candidate made disastrous gaffe about the issue of Cuba that established, mainstream pundits and political figures say will jeopardize his chances at winning the state of Florida with its large Cuban population:
Barack Obama’s offer to meet without precondition with leaders of renegade nations such as Cuba, North Korea and Iran touched off a war of words, with rival Hillary Rodham Clinton calling him naive and Obama linking her to President Bush’s diplomacy.
Older politicians in both parties questioned the wisdom of such a course, while Obama’s supporters characterized it as a repudiation of Bush policies of refusing to engage with certain adversaries.
It triggered a round of competing memos and statements Tuesday between the chief Democratic presidential rivals. Obama’s team portrayed it as a bold stroke; Clinton supporters saw it as a gaffe that underscored the freshman senator’s lack of foreign policy experience.
“I thought that was irresponsible and frankly naive,” Clinton was quoted in an interview with the Quad-City Times that was posted on the Iowa newspaper’s Web site on Tuesday.
In response, Obama told the newspaper that her stand puts her in line with the Bush administration.
Both parties were weighing the potential political fallout, especially in Florida, an early primary state, a pivotal general election state — and where Cuban President Fidel Castro remains particularly unpopular.
“Anything that looks like pandering to dictators is bad politics in South Florida,” said Republican state Rep. David Rivera of Miami. He predicted Obama’s comments would come back to haunt him, particularly if he becomes the Democratic nominee.
Oh wait a minute, that was Sen. Barack Obama back in 2007. Anybody know how he ended up doing in the 2008 election, and Florida in particular?
Oh yeah, he won the Presidency, got re-elected, winning Florida twice. But he did later shoot himself in the foot with this below:
I know, unforgivable, and it obviously has turned him into a political pariah and completely tanked his approval in Florida.
But seriously, this is yet another example how stale and obsolete the views of those representing and repeating the conventional political wisdom are.