By HDN Editorial Staff
"Politics should be kept out of it," so said Joe Lockhart, White House press secretary referring to the fate of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez who became stranded on U.S. shores Thanksgiving morning, the sole survivor of a 90-mile trek from Cuba.
So why, after a month and a half, is the boy not yet returned to his father, who has expressed a desire to have his son returned. Many of Washington's political elite are using this child as a means of reviving Cold War tensions between the communist island nation and the United States while trying to boost their careers.
Presidential hopefuls, senators and representatives alike are voicing their opinions, many of which are contradictory to the findings of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has decided that the best thing for this child would be to return him to his father.
Congress, by way of Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., has even gone so far as to subpoena the child to appear before a congressional committee. This action will only further the delay of the child's return.
We believe this child needs to be returned to his father immediately, honestly setting all politics aside. Nothing is more important than Elian Gonzalez' return to his family in Cuba.
