A Tale Of Two Editorial Boards, Cont.

Once again, when vision and courage are displayed in the public arena, we have a stark example of a newspaper whose editorial board's reaction shows that it has gone seriously astray.  Concerning President Obama's decision yesterday to resume diplomatic relations with Cuba, the neo-cons at the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle opt, once again, for a reactionary "analysis:"

The administration says its move will transform relations with Latin America, but that is naive. Countries that previously demanded an end to U.S. sanctions on Cuba will not now look to Havana for reforms; instead, they will press the Obama administration not to sanction Venezuela. Mr. Obama says normalizing relations will allow the United States to be more effective in promoting political change in Cuba. That is contrary to U.S. experience with Communist regimes such as Vietnam, where normalization has led to no improvements on human rights in two decades. Moreover, nothing in Mr. Obama’s record of lukewarm and inconstant support for democratic change across the globe can give Ms. Sánchez and her fellow freedom fighters confidence in this promise. 

The Vietnam outcome is what the Castros are counting on: a flood of U.S. tourists and business investment that will allow the regime to maintain its totalitarian system indefinitely. Mr. Obama may claim that he has dismantled a 50-year-old failed policy; what he has really done is give a 50-year-old failed regime a new lease on life. 

Note to the Bezos Bugle:  You need to know that when you're in sync with shallow-pool inhabitant and Batista legatee Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio (Tea Party- Cuba Libre) and a shrinking number of octogenarian Batista-campers, you've bottomed out intellectually and morally.  In the Bugle's own reporting today, the normalization is getting universal, across-the-spectrum support from Latin American leaders. Seems like recognizing reality and moving forward is greeted more positively outside the editorial board room of the Bezos Bugle.  Normalization is also a policy that 66% of the American people  (including the vast majority of younger Cuban Americans) supported in a 2009 poll by the, er, once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle.   You might want to hit warp speed and catch up to your readers and the 21st Century.

On the other hand, here's what the Miami Herald editorial board had to say:

No one should doubt the historic significance of the president’s decision. It required political courage, representing the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. 

The president has made a bet whose ultimate outcome no one can know. “These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked. It’s time for a new approach,” he said. All who yearn to see freedom in Cuba can only hope this gamble pays off.

Unlike the Bezos Bugle's crystal ball certainty that the change in policy will give the Cuban regime "a new lease on life," it seems to us that this courageous move (with the assistance, we continue to note, of Pope Francis I) was inevitable and necessary to improve the lives of millions of Cubans (and Americans) and to free America from its last ossified links to the Cold War.

U.S., Cuba To Resume Diplomatic Relations

In a process that was facilitated by Pope Francis I (a.k.a., The Real Deal), President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced simultaneously today that diplomatic relations between the two countries would be normalized:

The United States intends to open an official embassy in Cuba in the coming months, the White House announced Wednesday, part of a broader normalizing of diplomatic relations after the countries exchanged prisoners. 

In a conference call with reporters, a senior administration official called the developments "the most significant changes to our Cuba policy in more than 50 years." 

"What we are doing is beginning the normalization of relations of the United States and Cuba," the official said. "President Obama has long believed that engagement is a better tool than isolation and nowhere is that clear than in Cuba, where we have seen a policy of isolation fail for the last 50 years."

Easing of travel and banking restrictions (not to mention the import of Cuban cigars) are expected to follow normalization.  The U.S. broke off diplomatic relations and instituted a trade embargo on Cuba more than 55 years ago.  The trade embargo, which is in law, would have to be repealed by the Congress.

As one would expect, Cuban American "patriots" like Republican and Batista legatee Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio are already denouncing the warming.  (We expect Cuban American via Calgary, Canada, Sen. "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz to have a similarly caliente reaction as soon as he can find a microphone and cameras.)

Bravo to all concerned for breaking this nonsensical deadlock that hasn't done one thing to advance freedom or economic well-being in Cuba for more than half a century.

BONUS:  Here's the Pope's statement about the normalization:

"The Holy Father wishes to express his warm congratulations for the historic decision taken by the Governments of the United States of America and Cuba to establish diplomatic relations, with the aim of overcoming, in the interest of the citizens of both countries, the difficulties which have marked their history."

BONUS II:  And happy birthday to Pope Francis, who is 78 today.  Everybody tango!