Salt Lake City’s Deseret News – not known for radical foreign policy views – opined yesterday that, when it comes to change in Cuba, it would be best for the US to get behind the ball and push rather than the other way around:

Showing Cubans that Americans are not demonic but are simply people like them — curious about the world, wanting the best for their families and in love with the idea of living in a world where people can do pretty much what they please — is the best way to tear down the "sugar cane curtain" Castro has hung up and give the Cuban people a chance to bask in the sunshine of freedom.

And our Mountain Time friends did this despite the recent news that two longtime spies for Cuba were arrested and charged by the Justice Department. Indeed, yesterday, CNN, asking its viewers to share their opinion after a mini-debate between Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Charles Rangel, went 76 percent in favor of ending the embargo.

It's likely the president will also not be deterred. Mr. Obama, who has repeatedly enchanted audiences at home and abroad with calls for openness and reconciliation isn’t likely to be deterred by deeds committed by retirees over the last thirty years, no matter how serious they turn out to be.

In Cairo, the president said this, about Iraq:

Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible. Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: "I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be."

Thomas Jefferson is a helpful model. He was an American original when it came to advocating for limited government and created the eponymous philosophy that continues to inspire conservatives. Yet, he was also the president who, contrary to that philosophy, agreed to double the size of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase when the country’s access to a Southern port was in jeopardy (and contemplated the acquisition of Cuba, come to think of it). For Jefferson, security trumped philosophy. Evidence suggests that this is also the case for the current president. Barack Obama believes that our security is enhanced when we limit recourse to overt power but rely on more profound strategies of influence.

But for those who seem to think that he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are liable to give away the store as they rush headlong to rapprochement, the president also said this, of more general application:

…I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.