you may be surprised by that response, jim. let me take them in turn. first of all, with respect to cuba, there is majority support of our policy in the united states and there s overwhelming support for our policy in cuba. i think people recognize that if you keep on doing something for 50 years and it doesn t work you should try something new. and so the american people don t need to be persuaded that this is in fact the right thing to do. i recognize that there s still concerns and questions that congress may have. we ve got concerns and questions about specific activities that are taking place in cuba and human rights and reform. there were two members of the cuban civil society that were in attendance at the meeting that i had yesterday who expressed much of what they have to go through on a day-to-day basis. they were supportive of our policy of engagement with cuba.
herself very well in any conversations or debates around foreign policy. and her track record with respect to domestic policy is i think one that cares about working families. you know if she decides to run and makes the announcement she s going to have some strong messages to deliver. jim. thank you mr. president. first of all, on cuba if i could two questions. the cuban government has frequently said that it cannot allow more political or personal freedoms freedoms owe pressed freedoms because the united states has used both covert and otherwise actions to try to overthrow the castros. does your new era in fact end regime change efforts by the united states? and should the cubans then respond by allowing free elections and tolerance of
2030. i reaffirmed that through our $3 billion pledge to the green climate fund the united states will continue to help developing nations deal with the impacts of climate change. i reiterated our commitment to ensure that all countries in the hemisphere have open access to climate data as we meet this challenge together. so continued progress on cuba, new commitments to help lift up young people in the region, new partnerships to protect this beautiful land and our planet. as i said this morning, the united states is more deeply engaged across the region than we have been in decades and i believe the relationship between the united states and the americas is as good as it has ever been. we re focused on the future and what we can build and achieve together, and our engagement with the countries and people of the americas is going to continue throughout the remainder of my presidency. so with that let me take some questions. i ll start with jim kuhn.
in a historic meeting that hasn t happened in 50 years. this is obviously a historic meeting. the history between the united states and cuba is obviously complicated and over the years a lot of mistrust has developed, but during the course of the last several months, there have been contacts between the u.s. and the cuban government. now, that meeting also not without controversy. kevin cork has more now from panama. reporter: a stunning reversal of more than 50 years of a lack of communication between the u.s. and cuba as today the president of the island nation raul castro absolved president obama of the rift that has kept the two countries that are separated by a mere 90 miles but worlds apart over the past half century. the two men did have the opportunity to address the summit today. president obama for his part acknowledged the long road ahead, but he promised not to let the past dictate the future. the point is the united states will not be imprisoned by the pa
did not include new revenue. our polling is showing a lot of his liberal base is disenchanted with of the compromises he has made going back to health care and the public option. you heard henry waxman talking about the super committee saying he does not think the democrats on the committee would vote for any compromise that does not include tax revenues, but cuts entitlements spending. that is the washington-speak part of this that is difficult. we are talking about revenues and what the republicans are willing to be going with a plan backed support something that is not backed that supports something that is not net neutral. there are ways of doing that. there is some room for compromise. even though the congressman made the points he made, i think this is some room once you close the loopholes. if republicans can allow it to can allow it to be scored in a way that would be a net positive. thank you for being done newsmakers. on newsmakers. tomorrow, the