If the US and Cuba can get along ...Forming a government

PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday became the first American leader in 88 years to visit Cuba. The last, Calvin Coolidge, arrived on Cuban shores in the battleship USS Texas and was greeted by salvos from massed artillery.

Mr Obama’s arrival was less dramatic. He set the tone for his three-day visit when he said it is part of making the new relationship between the two countries “irreversible”.

America imposed a crippling economic embargo — el bloqueo — on Cuba in October 1960 and the missile crisis of 1962 deepened enmity between the superpower and the impoverished island. For its part communist Cuba, despite all of those emblematic but ultimately fraudulent 1960s T-shirts, did not shy away from human rights abuses when confronted with internal opposition. Castro could be as brutal as any despot if he felt the need. The fractious relationship between the countries came to symbolise the uncompromising, deadly power plays of the Cold War.

Despite the inevitability of the rapprochement there remains strong opposition among some rightwing Cubans who fled Castro’s dictatorship for America. They have strongly criticised Obama for offering comfort to the communist regime but despite all of that, and despite the running sore at Guantanamo, this moment seems an opportunity for both societies, especially for Cuba, to move forward in a positive way heretofore impossible. And, only at the time of writing mind, the sky has not fallen in because old enemies are trying to build a mutually beneficial future.

Though on a completely different scale the new relationship between Washington and Havana has parallels in the contrived impasse stopping Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael forming a government. Just as those diehard Cubans protesting in Florida are unable to accept the realpolitik of the day the refusniks in both parties cling to the certainties of a forgotten, failed time unable to see that they are making a stand on the wrong side of history.

It is almost a month since the election and yet we do not have a government. Nor are we likely to have in the coming weeks. The 1916 ceremonies, and all of the photo opportunities they offer, dominate diaries.

Even so four things can be said: No one wants another election; stable government is unattainable unless Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael coalesce; a minority Fine Gael-led administration dependent on Fianna Fáil is today’s most likely outcome but could one last long enough to achieve anything of consequence? And, while Mr Kenny and Mr Martin cling to their hollowed-out quarrel time is moving on apace, families are being evicted and the possibility of a disastrous Brexit gathers momentum.

There is important work to be done and none of it involves the two old Cold War parties splitting hairs trying to win advantage over the other. When this situation became obvious a political strategist suggested it offered the political class a chance to redeem itself. Is it really possible that it will not and that it will, almost insanely, deepen the disconnect between our democracy and our society? Obama and both Castros would be appalled — and they would be right.