For the rest of my time in government, there wasn’t a meeting when he didn’t revisit this idea. Even as I knew it was unlikely to happen, I came to like the idea, and I told Obama so. We could have some negotiated transition period, where the United States and Cuba jointly administered the facility. In meeting after meeting on Gitmo, I’d hold up my hand and say, “I’m the only one with a Plan B.” Obama dismissed it as a bridge too far, even for the fourth quarter. But I couldn’t help but see the unintentional genius in the idea—righting two historical wrongs, ending two chapters at once.
