Lost in the debate over whether the OAS should have rescinded its 1962 suspension of Cuban membership and whether that means Cuba could or would take a seat at the table, is how this episode reflects and informs the Obama administration’s approach to foreign policy.

It turns out that all that talk during the election about talking and listening to our allies (and our adversaries) – wasn’t just talk.

During a press briefing Wednesday, Dan Restrepo, Special Assistant To The President and Senior Director For Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, counts the final OAS resolution to rescind Cuba’s 1962 suspension – which originated of strategic Cold War anti-communist concerns – as “example of where talk is a very effective mechanism of advancing our national interests.” According to Restrepo: “[B]y engaging in a constructive dialogue and listening to their concerns, we made folks more open to our concerns. And that I think, at the core, is how this is a clear sign of the effective use of all the power of the United States, and here the diplomatic ability of the United States, to change the course of events that would not have served our national interests and our core values into one that strengthened our national interests and our core values, and the partnership that we have with important countries throughout the Western Hemisphere.”

You might be tempted to say that Restrepo is trying to put a good face on having this Cuba resolution pushed on the new administration. And there’s ample debate whether Cuba could, should or will even try to take a seat at the OAS now. But that debate overlooks what else this exercise may have meant for the Obama administration.

Of all the talking this administration is trying to do around the world, the OAS discussions on Cuba this week offered the lowest risk with the surest returns. At the Summit of the Americas this spring, President Obama said: "We have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations."

By working toward and achieving a consensus resolution on Cuba this week, the United States just made good on its promise to talk, but not dictate, and most importantly to listen to the hemisphere. The ink is still trying, but there can be no doubt that the administration has won a new measure of trust from the region – in a sense, taking one for the team – and it didn’t cost us a penny.

Tom Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs confirmed that in negotiating a compromise resolution on Cuba, the Obama administration listened to members of the OAS who, “wanted to find a way to deal with Cuba that wasn’t based on Cold War instruments or decisions that the OAS had taken, but instead was is based on the current instruments related to democracy, to human rights, to self-determination, non-intervention, security, and development.”

Cuba was not the only country in the hemisphere to be caught up in the Cold War; but it was the last. Rescinding the 1962 resolution wasn’t really necessary – Cuba maintains it doesn’t want back in. The OAS action won’t resolve the U.S. – Cuba conflict, nor does it make clear what happens next in the OAS. But it does help put to a symbolic end a difficult chapter in the Hemisphere’s history.