Obama: Lost In Havana

The president had a great time in Cuba last week, doing what he loves to do---talk about himself and apologize for America's failures.

Especially in a foreign country.

President O also had a great opportunity to explain why free market capitalism is better than communist socialism, but he, as they say, "got lost in Havana."

Jesus taught capitalism and wise investing, but our president can't seem to bring himself to admit that it is a better way.

Speaking of socialism: Socialist Bernie Sanders blew away Hillary in the Democratic primary caucuses in Washington, Alaska and Hawaii on Saturday---it wasn't even close.


The New York Times primary results show Washington State-Bernie 73%, Hillary 27%; Alaska--Bernie 82%, Hillary 18%; and Hawaii---Bernie 70%, Hillary 30%.

It's stunning that Washington State, the birth place of some of the world's best and most prosperous companies, votes so strongly for socialism.

Columnist Cal Thomas reminds us that President Obama's apologies to Cuba were not the first. Thomas writes, "At the beginning of his presidency, Barack Obama traveled to Cairo, Europe, and the United Nations to 'apologize' for past American actions and attitudes, which he claimed help create divisions between countries."

Back in 2009, our new president told a mix of French and German citizens in Strasbourg, France, "There have been times where America [has] shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" toward Europe.

Last week while the president vacationed with the Castos', Raul Castro accused the United States of human rights violations, engaging in a form of moral equivalency between denial of free health care and free education for all, and "equal pay" for women was some how similar to the jailing of political dissidents.

Castro claimed Cuba pays women the same as men. They probably do---who knows for sure.

One thing is certain, their economy is not booming. The cars I see running up and down the streets of Havana are the same ones I was driving while in high school---and mine weren't new---and I'm past middle age.

True to form, President Obama responded with, "I personally would not disagree with him."

Wesley Pruden thinks the president has a problem admitting that America is an exceptional nation due to his early education in Muslim schools in Indonesia. Pruden thinks he doesn't understand America like the rest of us do.

He just can't seem to agree with Preisdent Lincoln's take on America. Lincoln defined America as "the exceptional nation"---not "an exceptional nation."

Obama once told an inquiring reporter, "Yes, I believe America is an exceptional nation, just as I suspect the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks in Greek exceptionalism."

Lincoln defined Amerca as "the exceptional nation" because it is, for all the reasons most of us who were born and raised here know.

President Obama had a wonderful opportunity to make his visit to Havana a teaching moment, to draw a distinction between a government that holds freedom dear, and making sure that freedom is protected and spread to all people, against a government that restricts freedom, and punishes severely anyone bold enough to try to taste freedom.

Instead, the president told the nation and the world, "Here's my message to the Cuban government and Cuban people. The ideals that are the starting point for every revolution ---America's revolution, Cuba's revolution, the liberation movements around the world---these ideals find their truest expression, I believe, in democracy."

The Cuban revolution grew out of the barrel of a gun, enforced by brutal repression of despots, and a half century later the gun is still aimed at anyone who steps out of line.

To compare the two revolutions makes a mockery of the suffering of thousands of Cuban patriots who tried to stand against the dictatorship of the Castros---and is certainly an affront to all those who have and do fight for our freedom here in the US.

And it makes a mockery of the intelligence of average American citizens.

After sitting through a Cuban baseball game with Castro, happily performing the "wave", Castro turned on the president and America and said mockingly, "You can give me a list of political prisoners, and if we have those political prisoners, they will be released before tonight ends."

Ironically, our president, prior to his visit with Castro, had been given a list of 89 such prisoners and where they were held.

President Obama didn't even mention the list.

This was the perfect moment to say to Raul, "Thanks for asking, lets drive out to the prisons and see what we can find."

Just prior to Obama's visit, an estimated 50 human rights advocates were arrested during a "Women in White" demonstration.

While the light of democracy can dispel the darkness of dictatorship, a light can be extinguished if it's power source dims.

Jesus not only taught the benefit of investing wisely in the parables of the talents, but told us all, "Ye are the light of the world."

America needs a "bright light president."

One who understands republican democracy. One who actually believes that America is the exceptional nation, as Abraham Lincoln and other great American leaders have, and one who understands that free market capitalism works and expands freedom.

One that understands the Judeo- Christian principles up which this nation was founded.

Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful.