At Nelson Mandela’s funeral, Obama shook hands with Raul Castro. Liberals are excited, while the RW blogosphere seethes (partly because Obama seems to be bowing to Castro, but I think he’s just looking down because he’s taller).
I think this is just a common gesture of courtesy at a public event, and does not portend any change in Cuban-American relations. Does anyone think different?
nm
Are liberals excited? I haven’t seen any comments other than “oh boy, here comes another right wing freak out.”
I don’t think it means anything other than common courtesy.
No such thing when it comes to heads of state. You can bet your bottom dollar that this was discussed with Obama’s staff and agreed on in advance.
I saw that this morning and thought, “Good, our Cuba policy hasn’t worked ever and maybe this is a start to a rapprochement… and start the stopwatch so we can precisely time the right-wing freak out!”
You’re probably right, but still, I don’t think it means any kind of rapproachment attempt is on the horizon.
Probably not. But it does open the door, if ever so slightly.
This is Obama being consistent with his statements from 2007:
Refusing to shake hands with the leader of Cuba would be an exercise of the diplomatic principle he explicitly rejected.
I might concede that it represents a lack of open antagonism, although the US’s stance on Cuba has been very slowly relaxing for some time now. I don’t think Raul is likely to be on Obama’s Christmas card list yet though.
Personally, once I heard they’d both be there it seemed obvious that 1) there would be a handshake, and 2) a right-wing freakout would follow.
Yes, but in politics even “common courtesy” needs to be planned out because it has diplomatic implications. They presumably discussed the options and felt that the best one was a polite handshake and greeting; the alternatives (avoidance or an open snub) would have caused far more disturbance and would have been disrespectful given the setting.
I think the kinds of people who are going to freak out about this (or, conversely, read a lot into it) are going to do so regardless of what Obama does or doesn’t do. Personally I’m more at the yawn stage as far as this goes. He shook hands with Raul? That’s nice. Wonder if he’s gotten to boink the wife lately…
I wonder if they would have decided any differently, if it had been Fidel?
On the bright side, he can now increase drone killings.
Everyone wins.
How are the two connected?
I’m also reminded of this handshake between Robert Mugabe and then-UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, which occurred at a time when relations between the UK and Zimbabwe were particularly bad (not that they’ve improved much since).
Straw’s explanation (which is supported by the video of the event, which I’ve seen) was:
Which I think covers the Castro-Obama handshake as well.
So, what you are saying is that if he hadn’t shaken Raul’s hand he wouldn’t be able to do more drone killing? And that now that he has, he’s going to do so? 
I think it’s a happy coincidence that Obama did not have to make a decision about that. He may have wanted to, but I doubt he would have. Not Fidel. And not with Ahmadenijad, either.
To be fair, if there’s one occasion where a gesture of reconciliation with a historical opponent wouldn’t be completely out of place it’s Nelson Mandela’s funeral.
“He makes me want to be a better man. Also, screw you Raul!”
Can you imagine what would have happened if they fist bumped?
Fistegeddon!
Handpocalypse!
Not exactly.
Raul is just a prop. Obama has demonstrated certain “peaks” in the way he goes about his role. As in, doing actions that are individually further from the center (in either direction) rather than abstaining from those actions and thus keep the steady path of a “centrist”. Those individual actions peak in terms of doing what left/progressives/liberals really, really like (which irritates right/libertarians/conservatives) and then, in the very next move, exact opposite. It’s almost at the point of annoying when WH initiates something on Monday and then hits hard on the brakes with “Congress has to act” on Tuesday.
I may be wrong …
Why does it have to be so personal that the leaders of two nations, even those in dispute, cannot shake hands and must refuse to do so as some sort of petulant display?
If I was the leader of the USA even in the middle of WWII and I somehow met Adolf Hitler (as unlikely as that would be), I’d still offer my hand.