Charlie Crist’s epic Cuba flip-flop

Charlie Crist's epic Cuba flip-flop
BY REID WILSON May 9 at 12:43 pm

"I understand that it's important not to go to Cuba when she's under the
dictatorship, but unfortunately the man I'm running against doesn't
understand that. But I know that you do," Charlie Crist said in 2006,
lobbing a powerful political bomb at an opponent who had traveled to Cuba.
As a Republican running for office in Florida, backing a trade embargo
on Cuba is almost required. And when Crist was running for governor in
2006, that's the position he held. As recently as 2010, when he ran for
a U.S. Senate seat, Crist said he supported an embargo and opposed
lifting a travel ban until Cuba's totalitarian regime started treating
its own people better.
But, as with so many issues on which Crist has evolved, that was then;
this is now. And Charlie Crist the Democrat wants to go to Cuba.
Crist has changed his position on everything from the Affordable Care
Act to abortion rights to gay marriage in order to fit in better with
his new party. But perhaps no single issue illustrates Crist's evolving
ideology than his newfound interest in traveling 90 miles south of Key West.
His evolution on Florida's southern neighbor started in February, when
Crist said he wanted to end the trade embargo. Earlier this week, Crist
went a step farther and said he is considering visiting Cuba himself
this summer. He hasn't finalized plans, the Tampa Bay Times reported,
but those plans are in the works.
"We ought to think big. We ought to lift the embargo on Cuba and work
with the president to get things done," Crist told a crowd at Versailles
Restaurant, a political hot spot in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.
And what a symbol Crist chose: Versailles is the same restaurant where
he bashed his opponent, then-Rep. Jim Davis (D), for going to Cuba back
in 2003.

That Crist would flip-flop on an issue is no surprise. But his interest
in Cuba stands out as a remarkable reversal in a political career filled
with malleable positions.
As governor, Crist signed legislation in 2008 that required travel
companies that wanted to send flights to Cuba to post a $250,000 bond.
When he ran for Senate in 2010, he stuck to his hard line on Cuba in an
interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
"The problem is, you have this totalitarian regime that is down there
that locks up journalists, suppresses freedom, doesn't allow for open
dialogue, and I think unless and until that begins to occur, it is not
in Florida's or I don't think America's best interests to be embracing
of that kind of government," Crist said. Would he support lifting the
travel ban? "No, I wouldn't. Not until they offer more freedoms to their
own people first and demonstrate that they're serious about it."
To make his position even more clear: "I do support the embargo," Crist
said during a June 14, 2010, visit to Miami Beach.
Crist's new position, perhaps not surprisingly, is politically
expedient. Polls are starting to show younger Cubans disagree with older
generations about the sanctions and the travel ban. Cuban voters, long a
solidly Republican voting bloc in south Florida, are starting to split
their votes more evenly between the two parties.
Hispanic voters are even less of a monolithic group in Florida than they
are in other states. While Cubans have long held a powerful position in
South Florida politics, Puerto Rican and Central American voters are
starting to comprise a bigger slice of the Hispanic vote, especially in
the Orlando and Tampa Bay areas. A recent Quinnipiac poll showed Crist
leading Gov. Rick Scott (R) 46 percent to 28 percent among Hispanic voters.

Reid Wilson covers state politics and policy for the Washington Post's
GovBeat blog. He's a former editor in chief of The Hotline, the premier
tip sheet on campaigns and elections, and he's a complete political
junkie. Reid is a Seattle native and a graduate of The George Washington
University. He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Veronica. Get
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Source: "Charlie Crist's epic Cuba flip-flop" -
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