I asked him about his interaction with Castro. “It’s funny,” he said. “He seemed taken aback that I actually shook his hand.” “It’s getting a ton of attention in our press,” I said. Already, there were vigorous debates about whether it was right to shake Raúl’s hand. “What am I supposed to do? Snub the guy at a funeral?” His voice was rising a bit. I had taken him out of the moment he’d been in, honoring Mandela, and put him back into the reality of American politics.
