Scott Walker's "Cuba-deal" comments make him look foolish

Walker lacks qualifications to make real commentary on international matters

Reacting to comments from President Barack Obama regarding a change towards normalizing relations between Cuba and the U.S., Gov. Scott Walker said it’s a “bad idea” to move towards more openness between the two nations.

“I think it’s a bad idea,” Walker told reporters Wednesday. “I don’t think there’s been any noticeable change towards making that a more free and prosperous country. There’s a reason why we had the policy in the first place.”

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“I think it opens up the doors to problems, and I think in a similar way changing relations with Cuba right now without them showing a noticeable change in terms of what kind of freedoms they’re going to put in place is a problem,” Walker said. “In the past, we’ve said if you want to have a more normal relationship with the United States, you need to show you’re committed to the same freedoms and rights that we have here in the United States.”

Emphases in bold added

But Gov. Walker’s record on dealing with countries that are hostile towards the U.S. or its own citizens is sketchy itself. If Walker is going to criticize the president, he'd better be ready to defend his own history in dealing with nations that have human rights problems, including seeking trade agreements with countries like China.

Not that we shouldn’t seek freedom for citizens around the globe. Sanctions on countries that do harm to their people can and should be put in place when they're the proper actions to take. Egregious harm on citizens who exercise basic human rights should be condemned, and action against such abuses is surely justified.

But it seems that 50 years of sanctions against Cuba hasn’t worked, and has made things difficult for the U.S., especially for citizens wishing to visit relatives in the Caribbean island nation. Easing these restrictions will be a first step towards assimilating Cuba into the 21st economy as well, as whispers of a change in governing style abound once the Castro brothers are out of power.

It seems that Gov. Walker is just being critical for the sake of being critical. Knowing that 2016 is coming up fast, he wants to seem more knowledgeable on international issues. Walker offers no firsthand knowledge of why this is a bad move, or even why he's supposedly an expert on Cuban-American relations.

In making his statements, Walker is coming off more hypocritical by condemning one action and accepting another. More to the point, he's appearing like all the other Republicans in Washington, who have nothing better to do than to bad-mouth the president for whatever action he takes.

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