Ros-Lehtinen for State?

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The New York Sun

With the Trump transition seeming almost deadlocked over the nominee for Secretary of State we are moved to ask: What about Ileana Ros-Lehtinen? The Florida Republican, long time member of the American House, is a former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. She is a refugee from Castro’s Cuba, a hardline anti-communist, and a supporter of Israel with few peers. She’s also a long-time opponent of foreign aid and an activist supporter of LGBT rights. What a remarkable combination to bring to a Trump administration.

We wrote that paragraph late Friday afternoon, unaware that within hours word would come over the wires that the Devil had lit Fidel Castro’s last cigar. All the more apt, though, since Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen has led Congress to stand by the Cuban people, despite the agitation of the Democrats and the American left, and some within her own party, to cut a deal with the communist regime there. She, along with Senator Rubio, has worked to hold the administration to the letter and spirit Cuba Democracy Act, which sets strict conditions before permitting the establishment of normal relations.

Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen’s standing with Israel was memorably on display after the Atlantic magazine’s famous scoop artist, Jeffrey Goldberg, landed his interview with Castro. That was the interview in which Castro claimed that, despite all he’d said over the years, he believes Israel has a right to exist. So startling was the scoop that Prime Minister Netanyahu, normally a savvy sort, and President Peres reacted “warmly,” as we put it in an editorial about their naïveté. Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen communicated her displeasure, and Mr. Netanyahu reportedly called her to apologize.

Now that’s the kind of diplomatic horsepower one doesn’t see every day. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen is not without a liberal streak, evidenced by her emergence in the van of the LGBT movement. This no doubt owes, at least in part, to her son Rodrigo, who is described on Wikipedia as the first openly transgender child of a member of Congress. Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen has been Rodrigo’s avid defender on the grounds of family values, saying: “It’s important to listen to your children, accept your children and have your children know that you love them unconditionally.”

The point here is not the substance of policy in respect of LGBT rights but of the kind of character possessed by Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen. It’s not that any of the leading candidates for secretary of state in the Trump administration are lacking for character. Nor is it to make an endorsement. It’s rather to note that the list of possible secretaries ought to include Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen, who has more foreign affairs experience than Governor Romney or Mayor Giuliani and outranks either Ambassador Bolton or General Petraeus and has displayed a combination of backbone and warmth that would be ideal. And what a triumph for the Cubans who stood against Castro’s communism and rallied to America.


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