In fact, the shift in Obama's position is a testament to the power of ideas on liberty and the importance of perseverance. For decades—and especially since the end of the Cold War — libertarians and some progressives and conservatives have been calling for a lifting of the embargo. Our efforts have always appeared to some as tilting at windmills. It will never happen, detractors said.

After all, the national-security branch of the government — i.e., the Pentagon and the CIA — have been steadfastly opposed to the lifting of the embargo. Still chafing over the humiliation dealt the CIA at the Bay of Pigs, the failure of the CIA's many assassination attempts against Castro, and the promises made by President Kennedy to not invade Cuba as part of the settlement of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the national-security establishment has never lost hope that the embargo would bring regime change to Cuba.

In fact, it's remarkable that Obama is even taking such a radical change in direction without the apparent consent of the national-security establishment. Maybe he feels that this is the time to strike — while the CIA is reeling over its torture scandal. Of course, the CIA must feel some sort of gratitude given that Obama's historic action has taken the CIA's torture scandal off the front pages of the mainstream press.

As we have pointed out here at FFF for our entire 25-year history, there was never any real moral basis for the embargo.