It’s bad enough that the usual South Florida suspects — the Diaz-Balart brothers and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, for example — continue to hold the best interests of U.S.-Cuban relations hostage to their exile-community, vendetta politics. That’s a given — as well as a function of Cuban-American political dynamics from the sovereign state of South Florida.
Where it gets insidious, however, is when the zealots use their influence, although on the wane, to continue to co-opt others who aren’t driven by ideology or family back stories — but by pure ambition. Exhibit A: U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the fast-tracking Congresswoman from suburban Fort Lauderdale who represents Florida’s Democrat-dense, 20th Congressional District. She is a Nancy Pelosi acolyte, one who received a choice assignment on the Appropriations Committee as a sophomore congresswoman. Along with the likes of fellow South Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek, she doesn’t see enough political upside in doing the right thing on Cuba.
She’s pro choice, pro gun control, pro gay rights and pro embargo. Go figure. She already has.
Her recent recitation of exile talking points in USA Today spoke self-serving volumes.
“Declaring the embargo a failure and using it as justification to reopen trade and relations ignores the fact that the Cuban economy is on its knees,” she wrote. “The paltry changes we’ve seen have been necessitated by their economic crisis. Ending the embargo now not only ignores the atrocities perpetrated by the Castro regime, it also hands the Cuban government a huge financial boost at the exact moment they need and want it most.”
Thanks for nothing. Wasserman Schultz’s political blinders preclude noticing that this failed Cold War relic is counterproductive to the best interests of America — geopolitically and economically. It’s also morally indefensible if you care even an iota about the people still stuck with that repressive regime that is at odds with economic common sense.
You want political commentary? I’ll take that of George Will, conservatism’s most eloquent spokesman.
“U.S. policy of isolating Cuba by means of economic embargoes and travel restrictions serves two Castro goals,” he recently noted. “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 conservative columnist has more credibility than a Beltway careerist. He doesn’t have a South Florida flank to protect. Unfortunately, where there’s a Will, there’s a won’t.