Americans of Eastern European extraction have long been cultivated for their political support. In the 1950s and later, Congress regularly passed resolutions condemning Soviet occupation of the "Captive Nations." [I used to dismiss such acts as political theater until I had the chance to visit newly independent Lithuania and Estonia. I concluded their freedom was worth pressing for.]
So when Mitt Romney decided to include Poland on his campaign tour, I thought it made political sense. Poles are anti-Russian [as Romney certainly seems to be], strongly Catholic, and culturally conservative.
What I didn't know until I saw this piece was how much Lech Walesa has intervened in U.S. politics in recent years --not only criticizing Obama but even traveling to Illinois to campaign for a Tea Party candidate. Walesa was a hero of Solidarity and now is diminishing his stature by such blatant involvement in American politics.
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