Sometimes you a read a story and you know someone doesn’t quite understand the topic, is playing politics with an issue, or both. The example of the moment comes from McClatchy:
A group of U.S. lawmakers want to block the Obama administration’s efforts to open up the United States airways to flights from Cuba. Citing concerns about Cuba’s security infrastructure, four members of Congress, including three Republicans and a Democrat, have officially called for a halt to the recently announced commercial flights between the United States and the communist nation until a closer review of security measures at Cuba’s airports can be conducted.
“How can this administration guarantee the American people there won’t be a security threat on one of those planes?” said Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C. a former chair of the Transportation Security subcommittee.
The problem? There has long been air service between the U.S. and Cuba. It’s just that the flights have have traditionally been public charters, offered with some frequency by carriers like, well, American Airlines. So if there is an actual, legitimate safety concern, then it very much predates the Obama Administration’s plan to allow move to allowing scheduled air service between the two countries. So Hudson and friends are really coming very late to the issue. Now whether they know they’re late to the party is a different issue entirely.
