QUESTION: Are You OK With Obama Skipping Scalia’s Funeral But Booking A Cuba-Castro Trip?
Is Obama’s trip to Cuba more important than Justice Scalia’s funeral? You know what our choice is going to be.
U.S. President Barack Obama is preparing to visit Cuba as soon as March, officials have said
Obama said in December that he would consider visiting Cuba as part of an opening to Havana that saw the two countries restore diplomatic ties and take steps toward expanded commercial relations.
‘The president has said he would like to go if the conditions are right,’ a U.S. official said.
Obama said in an interview in December with Yahoo News that he hoped to visit Cuba in 2016 but only if enough progress had been made in bilateral relations and he was able to meet with political dissidents as part of an effort to ‘nudge the Cuban government in a new direction.’
In December 2014, Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shocked the world by announcing the former adversaries would normalize relations after a 54-year break.
The last and only American president to visit Cuba while in office was Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
Former President Jimmy Carter visited in March 2011.
Read more: Daily Mail
Let’s take a look at some of the funerals that Obama DID attend:
- Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Less than two months before the 2012 election, both Obamas took time out of their schedule to attend the funeral of Senator Inouye. President Obama openly wept over the liberal senator. - Hadiya Pendleton
Three days before his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama sent Michelle on his behalf to the funeral of 15 year-old shooting victim Hadiya Pendleton. Obama’s decision to send Michelle to the Chicago teen’s funeral set the stage for his SOTU address, in which he called for further gun control restrictions. - Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Despite Robert Byrd’s well-known ties to the Ku Klux Klan, President Obama attended the Democratic senator’s funeral. Obama gave a speech at the ceremony and called the late senator his friend. - Reverend Clementa Pinckney
Reverend Pinckney, who also served as a South Carolina state senator, was one of the nine people killed in the Charleston shooting last summer. Despite never having met Pinckney, President Obama delivered his eulogy. - Former Democratic House Speaker Tom Foley
Just six months after snubbing the funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, President Obama attended the funeral of former Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley. As he tends to do when actually attending funerals, Obama delivered a speech. - Walter Cronkite
When the legendary newscaster passed away in September 2009, President Obama found room in his schedule to travel to New York for the memorial service. Once again, Obama gave a speech at the service. He had openly admitted that he never met Cronkite.
