THIS SNUCK UP ON US - AT 10:05 A.M. ET:  Attention this week will be focused on President Obama's trip to the Mideast and Europe, especially his "can't we all get along" speech to the Muslim world, from Egypt.  But there's another critical meeting being held, and the stakes are high:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A fight over Cuba's possible readmission into the Organization of American States is set to dominate the group's meeting this week in Honduras and may put Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in an uncomfortable position.

With numerous Latin American countries pushing to reverse the 1962 expulsion of the communist island nation from the bloc, the Obama administration's willingness to engage with Cuba will be tested at the session that Clinton plans to attend on Tuesday.

Notice the phraseology.  We're being tested.

Our stated position, thus far, is the correct one:

U.S. officials say they are ready to support lifting the resolution that suspended Cuba from the 34-country group but they insist on tying the island's readmission to democratic reforms under a charter the organization adopted in 2001.

But...

Nicaragua, backed by Venezuela, Bolivia and others, wants a more dramatic approach that would declare Cuba's expulsion an error and remove all legal hurdles to it regaining its membership, even though the Cuban government has said it is not interested in rejoining.

The key point:

One senior U.S. official involved in the negotiations would not rule out the possibility that Clinton might decide to cancel her attendance at the OAS meeting if a compromise acceptable to the United States was not reached. But he said he was hopeful that one could be achieved.

COMMENT:  Hope is not a strategy.  Let's see if we stand firm, or buckle.  Now is a time for Cuban-Americans to make their voices heard on behalf of freedom for the island.  If Obama/Clinton cave on this one, what will that tell North Korea and Iran?

May 31, 2009