Call it “Cruba”: the intersection of Charlie Crist’s latest ideological incarnation and the island nation that has intrigued, entrapped and intimidated too many Florida politicians.
Former Gov. Crist is finally on the right side of the Cuba issue. It’s beyond circuitous how he got here, but he’s now in favor of normalizing relations with Cuba. That means he no longer supports the embargo. He’s even making plans to visit Cuba this summer.
Sure, it would have helped had he had his political epiphany earlier, say, when he was governor and could have influenced public opinion and possibly provided some cover to the first term Obama Administration. Ironically, he was advised by some to consider a game-changing move and visit Cuba when, as an independent, he was running for the U.S. Senate against Tea Party-backed, Cuban-American Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek, who always played it safe on Cuba. Rubio, of course, won, Meek dropped off the political radar and Crist hired on at Morgan and Morgan.
But this is 2014, and the incumbent is Rick Scott, who has been whoring out for the South Florida hardliners, who represent the views of few Floridians beyond Little Havana. They certainly don’t represent the best interests–including economic–of most Floridians.
So Crist the gubernatorial candidate will play the pro-Florida, Cuba card, one whose time is long overdue. And even though it’s a better-late-than-never gambit, it still requires some cojones.
Keep in mind that Crist made his Cuba-visit comments at the Versailles Restaurant, a Little Havana landmark and hardly the ideal venue for an anti-hardline announcement. He also can’t expect help from key Democratic influentials such as Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC chair, and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who remain embargo appeasers. And while the White House has eased up on travel and cash remittances, it has never been able to muster the guts for an end-the- embargo policy push.
So, you go, Charlie.
And make the case that the ultimate bottom line is two-fold: Scott must go and a normalized Cuban policy must be jump-started as soon as possible. It’s a classic win-win for the state of Florida and the United States of America.