The Good Neighbor Strategy

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Would this Administration be willing to pursue either of these moves? At this stage it doesn't seem likely. The first measure would provoke howls from many Cuban exiles in Florida, while the second would irk U.S. business interests that would face competition from Brazilian imports. But if Richard Nixon could go to China, perhaps George W. Bush could discover Brazil--and stop making a failed Caribbean dictator an important element of U.S. policy. It could be that an embattled, second-term U.S. President looking for a legacy other than a botched attempt at installing democracy in faraway lands could warm up to the idea of leaving a permanent, positive mark in his country's own neighborhood.

Moisés Naím is editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine and author of Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy