Potential Republican contenders for the presidency unleashed a torrent of criticism following an announcement by President Obama on Wednesday that the U.S. will initiate diplomatic relations with Cuba after more than 50 years.
Although they were careful to welcome Cuba’s release of American Alan Gross, who had been imprisoned for five years, politicians keen on winning the White House in 2016 were eager to seize a political opportunity and attack the president’s foreign policy credentials.
The most vocal of all was Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican and the son of Cuban immigrants, who has long been a passionate opponent of restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba.
“America will be less safe as a result of the president’s change in policy,” Rubio warned Wednesday, as he vowed to take on the decision in Congress. He repeated that sentiment with a slew of television news interviews.
Fellow Florida Republican Jeb Bush, fresh off an announcement Tuesday that he is “actively exploring” a bid for president, steered clear of TV interviews, but released a statement on Facebook calling the agreement a “foreign policy misstep” by Obama and “another dramatic overreach of his executive authority.”
“It undermines America’s credibility and undermines the quest for a free and democratic Cuba,” Bush said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, whose father immigrated from Cuba, also joined the fray, comparing Obama’s negotiations with Cuba to his interactions with Russia and Iran.
“First Russia, then Iran, now Cuba. This is one more very, very bad deal brokered by the Obama administration,” Cruz said.
The Republicans who responded to the historic shift in policy were fiercely critical of the decision, putting them at odds with Obama and many Democrats — but also with Pope Francis, who encouraged the negotiations between the U.S. and Cuba, and some Republicans.
Most sitting governors weighing a bid for president avoided making statements, with the exception of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
“Ruthless dictators like Assad, Putin and Castro think Obama is an easy mark and will be sorry to see him go,” Jindal tweeted.
But just as significant as the list of potential presidential candidates who spoke out was that of those who did not.
Among Republicans, Sen. Rand Paul remained mum, as did many governors weighing bids, with the exception of Bush and Jindal.
The leading Democratic contender for the presidency, Hillary Clinton, also was silent. The former secretary of state did not offer a reaction Wednesday, and her spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Clinton did, however, remark on the subject in her memoir Hard Choices, released earlier this year. In the book, she wrote that, as secretary of state, she recommended to the president that the embargo with Cuba be lifted.
“After 20 years of observing and dealing with the U.S.-Cuba relationship, I thought we should shift the onus onto the Castros to explain why they remained undemocratic and abusive,” Clinton wrote.
