Column by Joe Gallenstein

We have, over the past eight years, seen what can potentially happen when we demonize those who do not agree with our nation’s policies, and the difficulty to make progress in diplomatic crises this can result in. Over those years we have seen some of our allies become scornful of our nation’s policies, with the leadership of Europe questioning U.S. ability to lead. We have seen how sanctions against countries have not weakened states, but allowed leaders like Kim Jong-il and the Castro brothers to put a strangle hold on this power.

Unfortunately, our unwillingness to engage these leaders or others have not just allowed them to maintain their power, it has also allowed the leadership in places like Havana to strengthen the hold they have on the people of those countries. With this in mind, it is important to note the new direction American foreign policy took this past week, which is a foreign policy that can be described by communication, and not by dictation. This foreign policy seems to realize our country will have real differences with other world leaders, but that does not mean we should not cut off all lines of communication with them.

There is no better example of this than President Obama’s recent trip to a meeting of all the nations of the Western Hemisphere. In this meeting, Obama discussed with our neighbors the economic difficulties we collectively face.  While CBS reports Republicans like Sen. John Ensign or former Speaker Newt Gingrich point to the President’s shaking hands with Latin American leaders as showing favoritism to anti-American leaders, the real story is that the needs of these neighbors and important trading partners are being discussed.

These leaders, who seek to continue to marginalize those nations nearest to us, are seeking to keep a status quo that has not achieved any material success. Since we have marginalized the Castro regime, Cuba has become the natural alternative for countries that have not agreed with U.S. policy. The result is that large trading partners, like Brazil, have become closer to Cuba when we have disagreements. Instead of strengthening the U.S. position and helping deliver freedoms to the Cuban people, this policy has only served to insulate the Cuban regime from U.S. actions and push other countries to their side.

If Ensign or Gingrich were really interested in expanding personal and economic freedom to the communist country of Cuba, they should look at what the difference has been in countries we have normalized relations with. President Nixon normalized relations with China, and as a result, China, while still not a hallmark of democracy or freedom, has both opened their markets and slowly begun to promote human rights in their own country. The same can be said of Vietnam, where President Clinton, with the help of Sens.­ John Kerry and John McCain, opened up relations with that country. Yet for some reason, while preaching the merits of a free market, politicians like Gingrich or Ensign cannot acknowledge the successes that the free market has begun to win in these places.

I can understand why these critics are unsure about the new Castro regime, but they cannot expect a change in policy if they do not begin to listen to the people in charge in Cuba. They must realize, as CNN has noted, that if Raul Castro is willing to discuss freedom of the press, political prisoners, human rights, as well as other sensitive topics, with the U.S. then now is an opportunity we should not miss. This opportunity is unique, and may allow the U.S. and the world the ability to help restore basic human rights to the people of Cuba.

Obama’s Cuba plan deserves support. It is time to end the last vestiges of the Cold War, to be willing to listen to our neighbors in the Western Hemisphere, and to help bring the freedoms that the people of Cuba desperately need and deserve. Our President is not going to unilaterally normalize trading relations, but if Cuba is finally willing to remove its restrictions on freedom, we must be willing to offer them the incentives to make that possible.

Joe Gallenstein is a political science and history senior and president of the UK College of Democrats.  E-mail [email protected].