Exactly. The US signed free trade deals with China back in the late 80's or early 90's, when China was every bit as repressive as Cuba. It always seemed the height of hypocrisy to me that we had free trade and diplomatic relations with China right after Tiananmen Square, while Cuba was somehow beyond the pale.
The only reason for it was that neither party would touch the issue with Florida a swing state decided by the Cuban expatriate vote in Miami. The younger generation of Cuban-Americans, however, now either doesn't care or opposes the sanctions, so that's the real reason the ball is rolling on this one.
Have any of those other countries tried to foster Revolution in this hemisphere, like Cuba has?
Teddy Kennedy had to keep the JFK legacy in place.
But, they are both dead now. (and Teddy is probably still sober!)
Correct. Most of the older Cuban-Americans who escaped from Cuba in 1959-1962 and opposed ending the embargo have pretty passed on by now.
So the answer is, because liberals were hypocrites (what else is new) over Tiananmen Square back in 1989, that we must move further left along with Obama on the matter of Cuba? Really?