Did CANF endorse Senator Obama?

Since Senator Obama visited with the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) a bit over three weeks ago, many have asked me whether his visit meant that CANF was endorsing his candidacy. Given the frequency of the question and the interesting discussions that have emerged from it, I thought it would be worthwhile to discuss the topic on this forum.

CANF has not endorsed Senator Obama or Senator McCain. Instead, consistent with its institutional mission, it is CANF's goal to be a good advocate for Cuba with both of these candidates and to inform our community about the positions that both of these candidates have taken on Cuba and how those positions may evolve over time.

As a non-partisan institution, CANF’s mission is to further freedom and democracy in Cuba by developing and advocating policy positions and strategies with members of all political parties, domestically and internationally, that are well-intentioned and can be effective in helping bring about a democratic Cuba. In order to effectively fulfill its mission, CANF has three important responsibilities. The first is to educate leaders throughout the world on how to most effectively support a free and democratic Cuba. Second is to inform our community about the positions that key leaders take on Cuba policy so that our community may cast its votes in an educated fashion. And, third, is to work with all world leaders that are well intentioned in their support of a democratic Cuba to transform good intentions into real action.

In order to live up to these responsibilities CANF, as its founder Jorge Mas Canosa understood, must never subordinate the issue of a free and democratic Cuba to any political party or to any individual politician. Doing so would be the surest way to be taken for granted by politicians and for our community to become ineffective as an advocate for a free Cuba. While this approach requires a higher than average level of political maturity and may at times be emotionally difficult to accept, it has been this which sets CANF apart as an issue-driven institution and it is this that has made it effective, even if not always popular. CANF’s work under Jorge Mas Canosa with Senator Robert Torriceli (Democrat) and with Senators Jesse Helms and Dan Burton (Republicans) are a couple of the many examples that exhibit the organizations ability to work with all that can be a friend of Cuba, regardless of their political party. This approach continues today with CANF’s efforts in the U.S. Congress, at international forums, inside of Cuba and with both U.S. presidential candidates.

Our community must realize that its electoral power and influence comes from its high levels of voter participation, from its being educated on Cuba policy and from being able to swing its vote in favor of candidates that are going to do the most on behalf of the issues that we care about most. Our influence does not come from always monolithically voting for any one party or supporting politicians who, while pandering, are not really willing to take decisive action to help Cuba regain its freedom. It is this perspective that has led CANF, as an institution, to always try to educate our community on the pros and cons of each politician without blindly following as party line, while working to influence all, who are, or can become, decision makers on Cuba policy.

If a politician, regardless of his party affiliation, is off the mark on his Cuba policy, it is CANF’s responsibility to highlight that to our community and work to bridge the gap if at all possible (as Tony’s post below highlights, it appears that some of the gap on the embargo issue has been bridged with Senator Obama). If said gap cannot be bridged, it is CANF’s responsibility to highlight that to voters in order for them to incorporate that information when casting their vote. Likewise, if a politician is willing to take real action to help bring about freedom and democracy in Cuba, it is incumbent upon CANF to applaud those efforts and for our community to take note when making its electoral decisions.

It was in keeping with this tradition that Senator Obama was invited to visit with CANF and our community. His visit was important because it furthered the dialogue between our community and the now presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States. We appreciate Senator Obama’s visit and his willingness to listen to our points of view in the same way that he appreciated the maturity that our community showed in being able to have a constructive exchange with him despite our views not being consistent with all of his. It is this same level of dialogue that CANF has had and will continue to pursue with Senator McCain - although not all of his positions are reflective of our views either.

Our community should continue to stay tuned and pay close attention to the positions both of these candidates take and the level of commitment they are each willing to make to take action to help bring democracy to Cuba. Our community’s vote will once again be a key swing vote in a crucial state. Whatever candidate and party we lend our support to needs to earn it and needs to reciprocate with real action.

With that, I leave you with two questions: What is your take on issue driven advocacy across party lines? And, what candidate / party do you think is more deserving of our community’s vote at this juncture?