Politico spotlights Democrats asking why is President Biden being so slow to jump ‘hard’ on the Cuban political democracy protest thing?
Hello and welcome to Friday.
Sunshine State showdown — For Nikki Fried, Charlie Crist, Val Demings and other prominent Democrats hoping to topple Gov. Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio next year, it’s as simple as this: Over the next few days (maybe weeks), they will find out whether national Democrats and those surrounding President Joe Biden plan to write off Florida for the foreseeable future.
Not united — It’s clear that there is a stark divide in the party — witness last night’s Twitter debate over the embargo between Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell — over what actions the United States should take in response to the ongoing (and remarkable) protests on the island nation of Cuba.
Starting to take a stand — Biden on Thursday did weigh in, calling Cuba a “failed state” and making it clear he opposed remittances right now (a restriction put in place by the Trump administration) because the money would be confiscated by the regime. But it’s unclear if the White House plans to make any other concrete move even as Republicans engage in a barrage of criticism.
The 2020 debacle — Democrats whiffed on races up and down the ballot in the 2020 election cycle. A key factor was what happened in Miami-Dade where Democrats saw not one, but two incumbent members of Congress go down in defeat in part because of lackluster and inconsistent response to criticisms that Democrats are soft on socialism and communism.
Writing on the wall — The longer the Biden administration contemplates its “review” of its Cuba policy and fails to act, it just feeds into the GOP narrative no matter how times Democrats decry it as false and misleading.
Friends like these — But let’s put that aside for a moment: Democrats in Florida the last few days have publicly called on the Biden administration to … do something. Anything. If he continues to ignore members of his own party in the third largest state in the nation, then that will be proof that Florida’s days as a battleground are indeed over. And it will be a bright signal to Demings, Fried and Crist and Florida Democratic Party chair Manny Diaz for 2022:
You are on your own…..