Surprisingly (to me), that is what the majority of Freepers thought, at the time, at least the ones who posted. I found it strange that they did not understand that the father was nothing more than a pawn used by Castro to force the U.S. to say "uncle" in front of the world. Clinton pretended to offer for the father to move to the U.S., but it was rejected and, of course, not pursued (because Clinton didn't really want to).
What is it with liberals and their inability to play world chess?
“I found it strange that they did not understand that the father was nothing more than a pawn used by Castro to force the U.S. to say ‘uncle’ in front of the world. Clinton pretended to offer for the father to move to the U.S., but it was rejected and, of course, not pursued (because Clinton didn’t really want to).’”
Yeah. I remember at the time wondering why, aside from the polarization, this was such a big story. What about all the other kids in Elian’s position? Surely there was some precedence.
The answer, of course, was that it was a story because Castro and Castro-sympathizers made it a story. It was the last meaningful throwback to the old Cold War PR fights (considering our deference to China). We lost.
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"Surprisingly (to me), that is what the majority of Freepers thought, at the time, at least the ones who posted...."
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I feel it is necessary to correct this misconception. There were vastly more FReepers who saw the importance of Elian living in freedom with his extended family in Miami.
You are correct that a lot of FReepers wanted him to go back to Cuba. Their position was heavily influenced by bad experiences with divorce or child custody battles in their own lives.
Unfortunately, the fact remains (as it did then), Elian's father is the communist state and their advocacy for his return did Elian and them no favors.