http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/227787-obama-to-make-rare-sunday-show-appearanceDecember 20, 2014, 01:36 pm
Obama to make Sunday show appearance
By Justin Sink
President Obama’s sweeping changes to Cuba policy are expected to dominate the Sunday talk shows this week, with one of the harshest critics of the president’s efforts to normalize diplomatic relations — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — appearing on each of the broadcast networks’ telecasts.
Obama will have a chance to defend the policy himself in a rare Sunday show appearance, sitting down with Candy Crowley for her last episode as host of CNN’s “State of the Union.” The veteran political correspondent is leaving the network after 27 years.
Rubio has been harshly critical of the president’s policy changes, which would reestablish an embassy in Havana and loosen trade and travel restrictions. The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio said earlier this week the moves “will significantly set back the hopes of freedom and democracy for the Cuban people.”
“It is disgraceful for a president who claims to treasure human rights and human freedom. This president is the single worst negotiator we have had in the White House in my lifetime.”
But the Florida lawmaker's comments have drawn criticism from the White House — and a fellow Republican senator who, like Rubio, is thought to be considering a run for president in 2016.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tweeted this week that Rubio was “acting like an isolationist who wants to retreat to our borders and perhaps build a moat.”
“The United States trades and engages with other communist nations, such as China and Vietnam. So @marcorubio why not Cuba?” Paul wrote.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest also noted this week that Rubio had, in a confirmation hearing earlier this year, expressed hope that the U.S. embassy in China “should be viewed as an ally of those within Chinese society that are looking to express their fundamental rights to speak out and to worship freely.”
Earnest said the administration agreed, and that it seemed “odd Sen. Rubio would be reluctant and, in fact, actively seeking to block the appointment of an ambassador to Cuba when earlier this year he voted to confirm the ambassador to China that the president nominated.”
Here’s the full lineup:
NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Rubio is the top-billed guest, but the show will also include a cyber security roundtable with former Bush administration Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, former National Counterterrorism Center director and Leidos executive vice president Michael Leiter and former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Ambassador Christopher Hill following revelations that North Korea was responsible for the hacking of Sony Pictures. On Friday, the president said Sony was wrong to have pulled “The Interview” — a comedic film depicting the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jung-UN — from theaters, and vowed a U.S. response to the attack.
ABC’s “This Week”: Rubio will be joined by former Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT), Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, and Anna Navarro, a Republican political strategist who served as the national co-chair of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) Hispanic Advisory Council.
CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Rubio will be joined by fellow Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has vowed in his new role as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee to block funding for the establishment of a U.S. embassy in Cuba. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, a close watcher of the administration’s foreign policy, are also slated to appear.
CNN's "State of the Union”: Crowley’s final show will feature both Obama and McCain, his 2008 opponent in the race for the White House.
“Fox News Sunday”: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) is likely to weigh in on the Sony hack. Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) are also slated to appear
