Sometimes, as we all know, being right isn’t enough. Sometimes, having history on your side isn’t sufficient. And sometimes, having the upper hand on economic, geopolitical and moral arguments isn’t adequate.
So, sometimes you just want to throw up your hands in exasperation when the subject is Cuban-American relations–and how they have been held hostage for half a century to venal and vendetta politics.
But look who just changed prisms when it comes to seeing the reality of Cuba in relevant context. Not just Fidel Castro, but the influential pundit George Will, conservatism’s most eloquent spokesman.
Perhaps the timing of contemporary Cuba’s muddled economic model in conjunction with Will’s epiphany will prove providential. Perhaps it will get the attention of an Administration that knows better but still cowers in incrementalism when it comes to Cuba. Perhaps it will induce politicians outside Miami and Jersey City to do what’s in the self-interest of the U.S. and Florida–not the sovereign state of Little Havana.
Perhaps.
For the record, Will is now taking on the counterproductive Cuban embargo and travel proscriptions for most Americans. “U.S. policy of isolating Cuba by means of economic embargoes and travel restrictions serves two Castro goals,” points out Will. “It provides an alibi for Cuba’s social conditions, and it insulates Cuba from some of the political and cultural forces that brought down communism in Eastern Europe.
“The 11th president (during the Castro era), Barack Obama, who was born more than two years after Castro seized power, might want to rethink this policy, now that even Castro is having second thoughts about fundamentals.”
Call it overdue change we can believe in.