“Paul is going to stretch the limits and try to grow the party in directions Republicans aren’t used to,” said Ari Fleischer, a former White House press secretary to George W. Bush. “I think the only upside he’ll have is with young people. Outside of that, I think it’s going to be tough going for him. . . . The history of the party is much more interventionist, muscular, strong, Ronald Reagan foreign policy.”
Paul’s aides said the senator considers Cuba policy an economic and diplomatic issue and not a partisan one.
But GOP primary voters may see it differently. “There’s a certain willingness among conservatives to reconsider our Cuba policy, but the fact that it’s been negotiated by Obama — whom we have no confidence or trust in — makes it suspect,” said Richard Viguerie, a longtime conservative leader. “If this had been done by a trustworthy, conservative Republican, it would have been different.”
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