An editorial in The Dallas Morning News illustrates precisely why I believe Bush needs to be removed from office. Our country is in the middle of an extremely polarizing war we never should have started, in a country that posed no direct threat to us. He clearly is more concerned about his electoral prospects in Florida than with what is truly troubling this nation.

Swatting Flies: New sanctions on Cuba make no sense
Thursday, May 13, 2004

Before 9-11, President Bush told National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that he was tired of swatting flies when it came to counterterrorism.

So why is Mr. Bush swatting Cuba's Fidel Castro? There's no bigger fly in the world.

Last week, Mr. Bush announced a plan to hasten the dictator's demise. He would spend $59 million to foil Cuba's jamming of U.S. broadcasts, to help Mr. Castro's domestic opponents and to advertise the leader's abuses. Family visits to Cuba would be limited to one every three years instead of the present one every year. Cubans in the United States would be allowed to give much less money to their relatives in Cuba. "It's a strategy that says we're not waiting for the day of Cuban freedom, we are working for the day of freedom in Cuba," Mr. Bush declared.

Nonsense. The plan will strengthen Mr. Castro by providing a scapegoat for Cuba's penury and by allowing him to position himself as David to the U.S. Goliath. It will make the dissidents who take the U.S. money look like U.S. agents and give Mr. Castro an excuse to imprison them. Worse, it won't work. If such measures were effective, Mr. Castro already would be gone. But 45 years of U.S. embargo, ostracism and fist shaking have only added to his aura of invincibility.

Contrast Mr. Bush's policy toward Cuba with his policies toward two other dictatorships: China and Iran. With China, he has correctly determined that engagement is best and that U.S. businessmen and tourists spread U.S. values of democracy, free enterprise and human rights. With Iran, he has correctly determined that direct support for domestic opponents would make them look like puppets.

Mr. Bush treats Cuba differently because it's to his political advantage. He wants the support of Florida's Cuban-Americans, who are key to his re-election. So he panders to them. He can afford to do that because Cuba is a fly – a strategically unimportant country that poses no military threat to the United States.

But good politics don't always make good policy. Mr. Bush should stop swatting flies. He should go for the big game – Iraq and al-Qaeda. Doing otherwise is more than counterproductive. It's an unwise and ill-advised diversion from real threats to U.S. security.