The moment is finally here: First Puppy Bo will have his inaugural public outing tomorrow. (We wonder if he was a little sad to not be involved in the Easter Egg Roll today.) The form this event will take is unclear as yet, but we'll be watching. 

Perhaps the most amusing part of this whole puppy saga was the shenanigans over which newspaper would get the exclusive. The Washington Post won the battle, after some serious diplomatic wrangling. Manuel Roig-Franzia wrote yesterday:

Bo's story starts sometime around the Ides of March. Word on the street was that the White House was going to plant a vegetable garden. Health gurus had been pushing the Obamas to plant seedlings for months, hoping it would set a good example for children everywhere.

A Washington Post food reporter was making calls, probing, pushing. But the White House was mum. Word filtered out that the exclusive had been promised to the New York Times. But the White House offered The Post, the newspaper that cracked Watergate, a mollifier: A puppy exclusive.

Animal rescuers aren't so pleased about Bo though. They'd hoped the Obamas would rescue a dog from a shelter. Steve Gruber, spokesman for the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals in New York City, told Reuters:  "His choosing to go to a breeder is a disappointment. Choosing a shelter dog, that would have been a really powerful message to the American people." One thing is for sure though: Portuguese Water Dog breeders will be seeing dollar signs.

The President received an important thumbs up on his Cuba announcement this afternoon: Florida Senator Mel Martinez, a Cuban-American, seems pretty pleased. He released the following statement:

"The announcement today is good news for Cuban families separated by the lack of freedom in Cuba. Likewise the change in remittances should provide help to families in need. Given these changes will benefit the regime in Havana, it would be wise in the implementation to place some reasonable limits on this type of travel and the amounts that can be sent to Cuba.

"The President has expressed his commitment to freedom - libertad - for the Cuban people, and policy implementation should advance that objective. To this end, the Administration is right to call on the Cuban government to end the onerous charge of 20 percent on remittances. Lowering remittance charges and allowing travel for Cuban families wishing to see relatives abroad are two steps the Cuban regime could immediately take that would show change in Havana."

 Martinez, who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba when he was 15, has already announced he won't be running for re-election when his term is up in 2010.

In advance of the President's trip to Mexico and Trinidad later this week, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has announced that the United States will be easing restrictions on trade and travel to Cuba. (Interestingly the announcement was made first by Gibbs in English at the daily briefing and then by foreign policy adviser Dan Restrepo in Spanish - an inclusive nod to hispanic communities.) In line with his campaign promises, Obama will lift restrictions imposed by President Bush in 2004, thereby allowing Cuban-American families to make unlimited visits and send unlimited amounts of money (known as remittances) to family members on the island. The administration will allow for expanded humanitarian aid to Cuba and for the construction of telecommunications links between the two countries. Obama is expected to be pressured by South and Central American leaders to fully lift the trade embargo on Cuba at this week's Summit. President Chavez of Venzuela is also likely to push for Cuba's readmittance to the Organization of American States. 

Easing restrictions on Cuba might have been politically untenable not long ago, particularly in years where Florida, home to the nation's largest Cuban-American population, was the key to the Presidency. But the power of that constituency has been lessened by an influx of immigrants from other Latin American countries and, even with his promises to lift restrictions, Obama won Florida convincingly. It's also early enough in Obama's presidency for anger over lifting restrictions to dissipate some before Florida takes the electoral spotlight again. Indeed demographic changes may make it politically possible for Obama to consider easing restrictions even further. We know you've given up smoking cigarettes Mr. President, but Cuban cigars anyone?

There are some mixed signals here though. The White House couched the move as "reaching out to the Cuban people",  but the announcement was not made by the President himself which, as Chuck Todd pointed out during the briefing, is unusual for such a major policy shift.

Courtesy The Root

The Root, a sister site to Newsweek (Yay Wash Post Co!), was over at the White House last Thursday covering the First Lady tending to the First Garden when they spied a funny moment nearby: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hanging out at the First Playground.

Our favorites this morning from around the web:

Small battles at sea
The U.S. Navy does a fine job protecting against threats like North Korea and Iran. An op-ed argues that it'll have to expand a third arm and develop a more micro approach to "asymmetric" treats like Somali pirates. (NY Times)

Now for pirate justice
The case against the one pirate who was captured could set major precedent should pirate cases continue. The Justice Department now weighs legal questions -- should he be tried in New York or Washington? How should he be prosecuted? -- in the first U.S. piracy case in, according to AG Eric Holder, hundreds of years. (AP)

The current and impending crisis
President Obama's next foreign policy crisis won't be a missile attack or government collapse. It's happening right now, in the form of the slow "deterioration of the global nuclear-nonproliferation regime." (New Yorker)

Earth's wave of woes
Climate change is often defined as an earthy condition, but Grist picks up word of how it's affecting human behavior. The island of Australia, where suicides are rising and more families are breaking up, is showing new signs of depression caused by environmental strain. (Grist)