Tuesday, June 26, 2007

CFR tracks U.S. presidential candidates

Recently a tipster e-mailed us to the Council on Foreign Relations’ page tracking the U.S. presidential candidates and their views on different issues. Two sections of note regarding the Americas have to do with U.S. policy on Cuba and immigration.

The following are some excerpts from a few of the candidates on those two sections.

-On Cuba:

“(Senator Hillary) Clinton ‘is going with the status quo’ on Cuba policy, said Sergio Bendixen, an expert in Hispanic public opinion research, in the Washington Post in 2007. In a recent Senate vote, Clinton supported maintaining funding for TV Marti, television programming that the U.S. attempts to broadcast in Cuba.

(Rudy) Giuliani is critical of Castro, which he made clear during the debate over whether or not to return Cuban child Elian Gonzales to Cuba in 2000…His views of the embargo or on other U.S. policy toward Cuba are unknown, however.”

-On immigration:

“Sen. (Barack) Obama proposed three amendments that were included in the Senate Immigration Reform Bill last year, including one that mandates that jobs be offered to American workers at a “prevailing wage” before they are offered to guest workers…Obama opposed an amendment to the Senate immigration reform bill of June 2007 that would prevent immigrants with a criminal record from gaining legal status (AP).

Sen. (John) McCain (R-AZ) has been a moderate voice who supports both increased border security and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. McCain was the only GOP candidate (FOX) to support the recent immigration reform bill.”

Please feel free to examine these and the other “issue trackers” for the U.S. presidential hopefuls.

Sources- Council on Foreign Relations

Images- Fora.tv (Hillary Clinton speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in October 2006)

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2 comments:

  1. redwood11:21 PM

    if you haven't already, you should take a look at the harsh words Rep. Lantos had for Chavez.

    Once again, American Liberals are going to stay away from anything that looks Socialist.

    Strategically, among other things, they want to propose a health care plan that will in fact look Socialist in its centralizing of administration.

    the farther they can push from the Latin American left, the easier it will be to fend off the Red Scare stuff.

    Moreover, the administration should have solid intelligence, by now, linking Cuba and Venezuela to Hezbulla and Syria. If any Dem starts talking soft on Cuba or Chavez, they're going to get burned.

    we're still in a Post-Carter mode.

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  2. Erwin C.12:12 PM

    It would behoove the Democrats if they were to not necessarily "push from the Latin American left" but rather embrace those elements that are more moderate and would be easier to work with. (For example, the presidents of Chile, Argentina, Brazil). This could run concurrent with a shunning of Castro and Chavez, and would give the impression of caring for Latin America without being friendly to (what the public would perceive as) the more radical elemnts.

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