Rhetorical Analysis of Castros'

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While the impact of President Obama's new policy is portrayed as being completely lost to nearly all of the people of Cuba, Kirchick does make a concession to the possible long term effect it might have. Supporters of restoring relations with Cuba insist that, in the long run, it will prove detrimental to the Castro regime by opening up the country to Western influences and economic investment Kirchick. This is on par with statements coming from the White House that indicate small arbitrary steps will prove to be more beneficial than immediate reform. Ultimately, it will be the Cuban people who drive economic and political reforms. President Obama took steps to increase the flow of resources and information to ordinary Cuban citizens in 2009, 2011, and today (White House). “The Castros' New Friend:” also describes briefly some of the benefits to Americans in respect to travel that the new policy will provide but also argues that due to the policies that are still in place, there are no benefits to regular Cubans.

James Kirchick's article,“The Castros' New Friend: Obama's change of policy helps Cuba's oppressive regime, not its democratic dissidents” took a different approach when analyzing the President's new policy on Cuba. He accurately describes the conditions and attitude that the majority of Cubans have on the new relationship with the United States in favor of repeating the political stance that most critics usually take when evaluating policy reform. Kirchick is also in a more-than-knowledgeable position to criticize the policies, which he does so with credible, first hand account of the situation (ethos). He argues effectively that the oppressive regime is the only beneficiary, and uses his own person feelings (pathos) to sum up his appeal. When it (El Capitolo, a pre-revolution parliament building) is finished, the regime will have put a gleaming new facade on its artificial house of representatives (Kirchick).

Citations:

Kirchick, James. "The Castros' new friend: Obama's change of policy helps Cuba's oppressive regime, not its democratic dissidents."National Review18 May 2015: 31. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 30 June 2015.

"Cuba."Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 30 June 2015.

"Charting a New Course on Cuba." Whitehouse. The White House President Barack Obama. Web. 1 July 2015.