Was it only thirty years ago?

Our favorite Jesse Jackson-Fidel Castro moment came back in 1984. When Jackson orchestrated a release of political prisoners from Castro's prisons and, upon landing back in the USA, announced that,

''We made a moral offensive in the summer to stop a military offensive in the fall''

This was part of a plan to defeat Ronald Reagan's policy of challenging Castro's allies, the Sandinistas, who then controlled Nicaragua. Reagan wasn't as gullible as Barack Obama today;

Before leaving the Nicaraguan capital for Havana [to pick up the freed prisoners], Mr. Jackson said he would like to meet with President Reagan and Secretary of State George P. Shultz to discuss the results of his talks with President Castro.

''There are some rather definite things we must share with them from the meeting with Fidel Castro,'' he said. The White House spokesman, Larry Speakes, said that ''we don't see any urgency for such a meeting.'' The Justice Department said it intended to arrest some of the [freed] Americans [who were wanted for drug smuggling] as soon as they landed in the United States.

President Reagan, when asked last night what he thought of the return of the Americans to the United States said, ''I'm glad they're home.'' Asked if he would meet with Mr. Jackson to congratulate him, the President said: ''I don't have time to talk about things like that.''

Nor was he the only one to be suspicious of Jesse Jackson's motives. One of the Cubans spoke out;

Mr. [Vargas] Gomez was the only former prisoner to speak at the airport news conference. He took issue with Mr. Jackson's view of Mr. Castro.

''To go to Cuba to join in a moral offensive with Fidel Castro is more than morally offensive, it is a moral offense.''

Mr. Gomez said that one could not find ''humanitarianism in the Communists.''

Our bold above, to highlight what we think Barack Obama ought to keep in mind about what works with Cuba.