Clinton is a progressive representative of this trend and the episode illustrates this, for its strength and weaknesses. Jim H's contributions are always stimulating but this attempt to parade cynicism as revolutionary insight is pretty shocking.
This was a struggle for human rights in its progressive aspect. What was cynical about it was the dedicated opportunism of an administration like Clinton's and Blair's which watches public opinion extremely closely, nurtures it, and will not move until ready. This ended up with a situation in which a 6 year old was psychologically being cut in two in front of television cameras. For a time he was apparently the only person who could decide where he should go. He tore up his father's photograph, an appallingly violent thing for a child to have to do who has just had his mother drown beside him.
I agree that the analyses on this list (congratulations again, Doug, for fostering this diversity!) rightly point out the powerful symbolic nature of this case. It is typical of Third Way politics to take this very seriously. The symbolism is powerful at all levels. But the sketch given by Ken needs to be read with the logic of dreams not of formal logic, otherwise it becomes mechanical and reductionist.
Suzie Orbach, US citizen and a popular psychology journalist in the Observer and the Guardian in the UK, (and former therapist to Princess Diana) noted in her column on Sunday, the eminence of the psychologists and psychiatrists who were advising Clinton and Reno. This is typical of Third Way politics, at which people like Jim can only display cynicism. These experts would have been emphasising the extremely destructive nature of the psychological situation Elian was in.
The violence of his capture I would suggest was motivated by
1) the children's departments will have a lot of experience of having to seize children forcibly from highly dangerous situations and will have their own routine, which at the end of the day Reno and Clinton will jjust have had to endorse perhaps without questioning. They may also have been tapping the house.
2) I would guess that it also expressed Clinton's anger and frustration at having to hold back for so many weeks until public opinion was ready for this and his sense of guilt at the psychological violence done to Elian by this Third Way Politics. This was all discharged in a decisive 3 minute raid. He has not apologised.
Although they now have to be very cautious, and the latest is that children of his own age are being brought over from Cuba to play with Elina, but Clinton can appear the man obviously not of old fashioned decent family values, but of modern family values, which include talking and acknowledgement of conflict. His press advertisers would have been behind the publication of reports that Elian's father had been in tears more than once.
This is a new culture in the making. The Clinton administration through ruthless opportunism at the expense of Elian, managed to give leadership and won.
Yesterday the International Herald Tribune predicted, I am sure correctly, that gradually this will open the doors to a much more underderstanding relationship with Cuba, in which it is seen as the home of human beings, with whom the US people should empathise.
Hopefully this highly significant victory will not be blown by Elian having to face a crowd of 1/2 a million in Havana, but it is a victory of the Cuban people, it is a victory for the forces of socialism against the forces of capitalism and for the progressive features of the struggle for human rights. All this is true while at the same time it was mediated by a dedicated servant of finance capital, Bill Clinton.
Jim however stated
"My point was that the issue of Elian Gonzalez himself is basically uninteresting."
Jim also added:
"The British government, too, is facing down some traditional right-wing constituencies, like the Ulster loyalists but not for good reasons."
How boring, and undialectical, revolutionary cynicism is!
Chris Burford
London