Jimmy Carter is Cool

As a President, Jimmy Carter got a pretty bad rap, but as an ex-President, the man has been nothing but amazing. His involvement in the domestic and international community is something that others could only aspire to emulate (see the Carter Center).

His current trip to Cuba is just the latest example. His attitude and outspokenness gave a breath of fresh air to the people there and got the Cuban media to report something other than the hard-core Castro line (which is pretty much unheard of) and our media to report something other than the hard-core Bush line.

The contrast between Carter's take on Cuban relations and the current policy are striking. The whole debate about Cuba supplying bio-weapons technology to rogue countries (yes they are, quoth Bush, and no they ain't, quoth Carter) is bizarre. I wonder if the "bio-weapons" connection is today's version of Reagan's "drug smuggling" connection. Just a smoke screen to justify our irrational policy towards Cuba. Because, hey, it's not like the government would be sanctioning Cuba just to get the votes of the right-wing Cubans in Miami, would they?