ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the way in which Clinton has not only sought to extend and deepen the actions pursued by his Republican predecessors but also to reverse longstanding policies and substitute new policies that invoke earlier periods when American hostility toward the revolution was at least as intense, if not more so, than during the Reagan-Bush era. At a regional level, Clinton's policy toward Cuba has left the United States more isolated than ever. Clinton's policy approach toward Cuba operates essentially within the same political framework that shaped Reagan-Bush policy: the pursuit of an isolation strategy designed to provoke severe hardships among the Cuban population, leading to a civilian-military uprising that topples the Castro government from power. Politically, Clinton's extremist policies must also be understood in terms of his attempt to compete with, and imitate, the Republicans in order to establish his credentials and expand his support among right-wing constituencies for the 1996 election.
