Raul is no Mao
By
Dan Perkins
Will diplomatic relations with Cuba, be President Obama’s crowning diplomatic legacy? Is it
possible that at some later date, historians will look back to the Obama legacy and conclude
that normalizations with Cuba was his greatest achievement? How can we resist placing
significant value on the idea of an unlimited supply of Cuban cigars? Will American
capitalists gain access to a limited supply of 1950 classic automobiles, especially the red and
white 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, or will some rouge nation undercut Americans and steal this
opportunity, perhaps Iran? Cuba sugar exported to the United States will pose a significant
threat to the American sugar industry, so our sugar companies will buy the sugar industry in
Cuba. Will American distillers feel price competition from rum manufacturers in Cuba, who
make the real Cuban Rum? Who will gain all of these import licenses, to import to the
United States the massive amount of goods to be shipped to the United States from Cuba?
The potential expansion of Cuba’s GDP by American interest is significant. The current
GDP of Cuba is roughly one-sixth the size of the GDP of the State of New Jersey. If Cuba
were to grow its economy at 15% annually for the next five years, it will double the size of
their GDP to approximately 40% of the GDP of the state of New Jersey. The question then
becomes why does the President want to have new relations with Cuba? I have thought
about this a great deal and I have concluded that the real reason has nothing to do with what
Cuba can export to United States, but what Cuba can do for the President. As President
Obama begins to look back at his presidency and the many campaign promises he made that
he hasn’t fulfilled, one glaring commitment unfinished was the closure of Guantánamo Bay.
When the President made the decision to trade five senior terrorist leaders for one American
soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, now charged with desertion, he still couldn’t close the prison. So, if
we normalize relations with Cuba and the President can turn over Guantánamo Bay to the
Cuban government, it is no longer his responsibility. He, like Pilate washed his hands of the
responsibility of Jesus, Obama will have washed his hands of the problem of Guantanamo.
John Kennedy told us, in his inaugural address, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what
your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” Perhaps President
Obama was telling Raul, “What his country could do for him.”
Dan Perkins is the author of The Brotherhood of the Red Nile trilogy, fictional account of
an Islamic terrorist nuclear attack on the United States. He is a current events commentator
who has appeared on over 400 radio and TV stations across the United States.