Richard Haas: Obama’s Cuba Policy Is ‘Kill Them with Coca-Cola’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT [excerpt]: 
HAAS: "Two things, Chris. The other big speech besides Donald Trump’s a-to-aipac is going to be Barack Obama’s to Cuba and how he really — what kind of messages he sends. But taking a step back, this is one of the big bets of his presidency. What he essentially did was reject the congressional program that Cuba has to reform politically before we would engage economically. And what Barack Obama said after 50 years, that wasn’t working so let’s reverse it. Let’s us engage economically, in some ways unconditionally in the hopes it sets in motion dynamics within Cuban society. Essentially we want to kill them with Coca-Cola. Get the United States in, set them in motion."
WALLACE: "Is this the headline, Richard, they would have wanted is “As Obama arrives Cuba tightens grip on dissent.”
HAAS: "Clearly the government in Cuba is worried about this and the real question is and this is a five or ten or 15 year issue, whether this sets in motion those dynamic which is Cuba in 10 or 15 years post-castros looks to be a more open, more Normal society and I think the administration said now that the Cold War is over, Cuba is not a strategic threat the same way that it was, we have the luxury of experimenting. But this is as close as you get to a case study experiment in foreign policy."
WALLACE: "Do you think it works?"
HAAS: "I think it’s legitimate to try and you have to be prepared that it doesn’t work but I think it’s legitimate to try to set in motion because the embargo after 50 years was not bringing about the more open Cuba we wanted to see. I think it’s worth the experiment."
WALLACE: "Answer to your question, ten years."
HAAS: " Give it time. See how this plays out."