As President Obama and Sen. Reid have said, we're very confident that Arlen Specter can do very well in the Democratic universe and do exceptionally well in the general election universe. Rep. Sestak has an excellent background and he has every right to consider the race. I think he's looking at it and making his own decisions. He's got a great position in the House, and he is developing seniority there, and he'll have to make those considerations at the end of the day.
In fact, Congressman Sestak has declared his intentions to run and now it remains to be seen whether the party will try to prevent people from supporting his effort. He talked about lessons learned and about trying to take more of a long range approach rather than focusing on the short two year term:
I've been talking about creating some longer term institutional opportunities so that when we reach out to young professionals - the ones who were engaged by Obama - they aren't going to be the $30,400 giver, but they can be the $5,000 giver. And if you get enough $5,000 givers, you start adding up to some real money. More importantly, you get them engaged in the process, and then we turn them into givers to the party and also contributors back in state in terms of engagement with our candidates.
They also turned to Menendez's Cuba position and where it conflicts with the intentions of the Obama Administration:
I applaud the president on the family reunification efforts as I have said. I disagree with some of the other provisions, particularly doing them unilaterally. For example, there's no place in the world that you send money to your family and it costs you more than 3 or 5 percent to do so. If you send money to family in Cuba, the regime takes 30 percent. So it seems to me that instead of unlimited remittances, we could have done something that allowed remittances to take place if [Cuba is] willing to lower the usurious rate charged to Cuban Americans. That's our disagreement - a little bit more of the how versus the what.
Overall, the Senator really seems to try and manage expectations for 2010 talking about where they stand and what they plan to do. The article is a good read.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez has risked the goodwill of the White House and his standing within the party to press the continuation of sanctions and travel restrictions against Havana's totalitarian regime. He riled many of his colleagues this month by blocking two of Obama's science nominees and by holding up the 2009 spending measure to protest the Cuba provisions it included.
The bill to be unveiled tomorrow in the Senate goes well beyond the measure Menendez just protested by removing legal barriers to all travel to Cuba, as opposed to just family-related visits.
Reacting to the blowback over his strong stand on the issue, Menendez said this:
"Anyone who knows me knows my views are both heartfelt and principled," Menendez responded. "It should be of no surprise to anyone that I have used political capital in my many years in the House and the Senate on this issue."
Senator Menendez said he would continue to use every available tool to preserve U.S. sanctions until political conditions change in Cuba, although he attributed much of his earlier ire to the fact that the provision had been inserted with no notice into an unrelated bill.
"If you want to change Cuba policy, fine, let's duke it out." "Let's duke it out on the floor and let's have our debate and let's have our amendments. Let's know who's for democracy and human rights and who wants to sell their stuff no matter how many people are in prison. That's fine. At least it will be an honest discussion."
But then there is the campaign politics of the issue for Menendez too:
Fellow Democrats were surprised by the force of his defiant, public opposition to a provision that enjoys broad support in the party. Menendez also serves as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a coveted leadership post that demands a degree of party loyalty.
Some liberal donors protested doing business with a man they thought was taking an outdated stance, and some of Menendez's fellow senators questioned whether they had picked the wrong person for the DSCC job. Dodd, for instance, is a top GOP target in 2010. He has called U.S.-Cuba policy "an abject failure." Some Democrats have wondered privately how hard Menendez would work to defend his colleague.
That will be a fine line for the Senator to walk. I don't think the Cuba policy has been effective and am not a fan of seeing things held up in order to maintain that. I understand he wants to use his political capital, but I'm sure people could come up with a few other suggestions. What do you think of the Senator's Cuba position and his use of political capital?
According to the Washington Post, Senator Bob Menendez has placed an anonymous hold on two Obama appointees: Harvard physicist John Holdren and Oregon State marine biologist and Jane Lubchenco. Holdren is Obama's pick to direct the White House Office of Science and Technology, while Lubchenco would lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admninistration (NOAA). The Post's sources say that Menendez has objection to these nominees, and that he is holding them up in order to garner concessions on Cuba policy from Senate leaders. Menedez's office has declined comment, stating their policy "not to speculate or comment on anonymous holds or rumors of anonymous holds, across the board."
If the Post has its facts right, Menendez's tactics are unacceptable and disappointing. The Senator should release his hold immediately so that these appointees can get to work cleaning up the mess left by the Bush administration as soon as possible.
Update: Menendez objects to a provision in the omnibus spending bill that would loosen restrictions on trade and visits to the island nation. His remarks on the senate floor (see video below) are eloquent and heartfelt, but they still do not justify holding up key scientific appointees who have nothing to do with Cuba or Cuba policy.
"This is not the cause for celebration that some would believe. This does not represent the replacement of totalitarianism with democracy - instead, it is the replacement of one dictator with another. In essence, today's action makes official what has been in place for a while now, with Raul continuing to lead the same iron-fisted regime that his brother brought to power almost 50 years ago. Just because the dictator is now named Raul instead of Fidel, it doesn't mean that the regime's repressive rule will automatically change.
"What this move does perhaps present is a moment of hope. Raul does not have the same relationship with the Cuban people as Fidel, and now is the time to challenge him. Cubans who have been clamoring for change may see this as the opportunity to peacefully protest and make their aspirations known. The recent activism of Cuban youth wearing white "Cambio" bracelets is a reflection of that desire for change. Here in the United States, it is a time to further nurture the human rights activists, political dissidents and independent-minded journalists inside of Cuba who have the capability to stoke the movement toward freedom."
Foreign policy wonk and The Washington Note publisher Steve Clemons has some stern words for Hillary Clinton over "her support of a backwards, counterproductive embargo against Cuba," saying it is "the price" of Senator Menendez's endorsement. Here's part of it:
Why isn't Hillary blowing that policy out of the water?! Tell me, please, that Senator Robert Menendez is not asking for the perpetuation of what is really an anti-Cuban-American policy that perpetuates the interestes of Venezuela, China, Israel, Europe, and just about everyone else but us in Cuba.
While I would love to adopt the honorable 37th District, I am afraid I am just beginning to get a sense of New Jersey politics. What I will try to do from time to time is give a brief synopsis of events that I attend or comment on Englewood, District 37 and/or Bergen County. Through my work/job in Englewood I am slowly learning, painfully at times. But at the very least it is a worthwhile education. A life experience.
Tonight I attended the 78th Birthday Celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The program was hosted by The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Birthday Observance Committee of Bergen County. The event was held at SMA Fathers (Society of African Missions) in Tenafly. The theme of the program was "Coming Together to Make the Dream a Reality" and the Keynote Speaker was the Reverend Lucius Walker.
