Cuba

I don't think you can overstate the importance of today's news out of Cuba. For one, we're swapping prisoners, which is not something that happens every day. More importantly though, there are discussions about normalizing relations between our countries, something that would probably be unthinkable at just about any other point. Let's not forget how bad the history here is- Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, rumors about Cuban involvement in the Kennedy Assassination, years of an embargo, over a half-century of not talking, Elian Golzalez, defecting athletes, and the mere 90 mile distance between Florida and Cuba have left this conflict simmering hot for a long time. Putting an embassy in Havana would be a historic moment. Families have been divided over this distance for a long time. I won't even go into the fact that Guantanamo Bay is in Cuba.

I also think it's the right move. We're no longer in a global dispute with communist nations, and that fact alone should make us consider moving on. The Castro brothers are aging, the dispute no longer is really about anything more than egos, and no one is gaining under the current arrangement. Are my saying the Cuban government is a good entity? No. I'm saying we've all lived long enough to say that reconciliation amongst the people of two countries is not only desirable, it's right. Living in a constant state of conflict with a neighbor is pointless. It's time to put this issue to bed.