The only place where 'leading from behind' has worked

While dramatic, President Obama’s opening to Cuba appears to have influenced the Castro brothers as much as his 2013 “red line” threat influenced strongman Syrian President Bashar Assad: not at all.

Cuba aside, the president — true to form — has mostly “led from behind” in Latin America. But his policy of benign neglect may actually be paying unexpected dividends by forcing the United States’ southern neighbors to become more assertive. As they do, politics is taking a backseat to civil society in U.S.-Latin American relations. That’s a good thing.