Another Teeny Weenie Baby Step Towards An Equitable Cuba Policy

No one will have to accuse Obama of going forward with anything controversial-- Heavens forbid!-- but he is ready to finally take a bold step back to the pre-Bush Clinton policies towards our long-suffering neighbors off the coast of Florida. Unless bought-out shills like Robert Menendez, the Diaz-Balarts, Ros-Letinen and Debbie Wasserman Schultz can must the support for yet another victory for the ghost of quasi-medieval Cuban fascism. Last night, the NYTimes reported that Obama is planning to expand opportunities for Americans to travel to Cuba. Of course, the idiotic, inhumane and ineffectual embargo stays in place. That's Obama-- a whole lotta nothin' much!

The officials, who asked not to be identified because they had not been authorized to discuss the policy before it was announced, said it was meant to loosen restrictions on academic, religious and cultural groups that were adopted under President George W. Bush, and return to the “people to people” policies followed under President Bill Clinton.

Those policies, officials said, fostered robust exchanges between the United States and Cuba, allowing groups-- including universities, sports teams, museums and chambers of commerce-- to share expertise as well as life experiences.

...Congressional aides cautioned that some administration officials still saw the proposals as too politically volatile to announce until after the coming midterm elections, and they said revisions could still be made.

But others said the policy, which does not need legislative approval, would be announced before Congress returned from its break in mid-September, partly to avoid a political backlash from outspoken groups within the Cuban American lobby-- backed by Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey-- that oppose any softening in Washington’s position toward Havana.

Those favoring the change said that with a growing number of polls showing that Cuban-Americans’ attitudes toward Cuba had softened as well, the administration did not expect much of a backlash.

“They have made the calculation that if you put a smarter Cuba policy on the table, it will not harm us in the election cycle,” said one Democratic Congressional aide who has been working with the administration on the policy. “That, I think, is what animates this.”

Mr. Menendez, in a statement, objected to the anticipated changes. “This is not the time to ease pressure on the Castro regime,” he said, referring to President Raúl Castro of Cuba, who took office in 2006 after his brother, Fidel, fell ill. Mr. Menendez added that promoting travel would give Havana a “much needed infusion of dollars that will only allow the Castro brothers to extend their reign of oppression.”

As I've mentioned before, Menendez is the Republican Party's secret weapon... his breathtaking cluelessness the only chance that the GOP will gain control of the Senate. His disgraceful role in the American policy agenda towards Cuba should have precluded him from higher office entirely, let alone from a leadership position in the Senate.

It's long past time for the U.S. to abandon a failed and hideous policy that began before most living Americans were even born. It's a real badge of shame that Obama doesn't have the guts to end it immediately and put this horrible era of history behind us. Billy Joel too: