Can You Catch the Irony?

Barack Obama has called for an easing of restrictions on some elements of the Bush Administration's Cuba policy. A critic of Obama's position had this to say about it:

Mauricio Claver-Carone, a spokesman for the U.S.-Cuba Democracy Pact, which supports full sanctions, said Obama's statement could hurt U.S.-Cuban relations at a crucial time.

"I'm sure he's well intentioned," Claver-Carone said, but he added that with the death of Castro possibly approaching and the potential for change on the island, such a statement could send the wrong message.

"It entrenches the regime at this historic time," Claver-Carone said.

Notice anything ironic about this last comment by Claver-Carone? Let me give you a hint: The Castro regime is coming up on 50 years in power. In fact, the Castro Regime is older than Barack Obama by almost two years! I doubt that anything Obama says is "entrenching" the Castro regime. Any honest person would have to admit that the regime is pretty much entrenched already, and has been long before Obama even knew who Castro was. It's statements like these that defy the imagination and point out ever so much more the anachronism that is the pro-embargo lobby in the United States.

NOTE: Cross-posted at Cuaderno Latinoamericano.