After joining in the all-but universal Republican cacaphony over President Obama's normalizing of diplomatic relations with Cuba, Gov. Scott Walker was asked by reporters whether it isn't inconsistent for the US to continue isolating Cuba while continuing normal relations with Saudi Arabia, a nation that arguably has equal or greater involvement with state-sponsored terrorism and human rights abuses. News reports described Walker as "reluctant" to say much about the Saudis or to declare whether he regards that oil-rich country as a free and open society.
The presidentially minded Walker cleared it all up in his usual, non-incisive, incomprehensible political-speak:
"They’re making a few moves right now, but those are things that could be easily altered, at least in terms of Cuba. In terms of Saudi Arabia ... those are things I guess folks at the federal level would ultimately have to comment on in terms of whether there’s consistency or not. The difference, I think, is Cuba, that’s a policy the U.S. has had for some time, where to change that, I think there has to be substantial change in terms of the positions that the Cuban government has."
Huh? Quick, get an English teacher on the horn to help parse Walker's word salad.
Here's our best effort to make sense of it: Change relations with Cuba? Foreign-policy expert Walker's all against it. Change relations with the Saudis? Hey, that's a "consistency" issue that Walker "guesses" the "folks" at the federal level will have to weigh in on. The US policy on Cuba is "long term," whereas the US policy on Saudi Arabia is, uh, er, um .... long term. And that's your difference, right there. A difference without a distinction.
By the way, guys like Walker, who purport to believe the US can't have relations with imperfectly governed countries that engage in illegal human-rights abuses, should as a matter of consistency insist that the United States of America stop having relations with ourselves. Among many others we could choose, here's one word demonstrating why: Gitmo. Here's another: Torture.
So, thanks but no thanks once again to Captain Oblivious. And that's "oblivious," not obvious.