Perspective on the President's Cuban Trip

There's certain things you have to realize just don't happen very often so they are a big deal. Yesterday, I was at my grandmother's, watching the coverage of President Obama's trip to Cuba. Repeatedly, they made the point that this was the first President since Calvin Coolidge in 1928 to step foot in Cuba. There was no Air Force One yet. The embargo, Bay of Pigs, Missile Crisis, and even the Castros were not thought of for another 30 years. Guantanamo wasn't a controversial place. That grandmother sitting with me in that room, an 88 year old woman, was an infant.

American Presidents just don't visit Cuba very often, good relations or bad. It's something that doesn't happen, which kind of highlights the neglect we have shown for Latin American countries in general, historically. Name me the last President who didn't visit the United Kingdom, Israel, or even China. It just never happens. In Latin America though, I'd venture a guess that President Obama is one of the better traveled Presidents in our history. He's certainly historic in regards to Cuba.

I'd also venture a bit of a guess that we are seeing a renaissance moment in Cuba. The President is there. The Tampa Bay Rays are there, I think foreshadowing Major League Baseball's desire to break into the baseball crazy nation. The Rolling Stones are coming to town. Even Pope Francis was there recently. The island nation has long been isolated. Increasingly, that is over.

This is one of the most significant achievements of the Obama Administration. While many people are either dismissive or ignorant to it, normalizing relations with Cuba to the extent they possibly could has changed the face of American foreign policy. Eight years ago, President Obama vowed to talk to our enemies, rather than maintain pointless silence. He became the first President to speak to an Iranian President in decades. He then signed a deal on nuclear weapons with them. In Cuba, he has normalized relations with a neighboring country we have not spoken to since the Eisenhower Administration. These are not small achievements. He has, in fact, lived up to his own promises. America can be proud of this trip.