As everyone knows, one of the major flash points of the Democratic race thus far came a few weeks ago when Barack Obama said he would be willing to conduct face-to-face meetings with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea "without precondition" during the first year of his presidency.

Hillary Clinton pounced on the answer, calling it "irresponsible and frankly naive." Obama countered by saying Hillary's vote for the Iraq war was the height of irresponsibility and that he was offering fresh, common-sense thinking while Clinton was endorsing a "Bush-lite" approach which he says - and a vast majority of Democrats believe - has failed over the last six years.

Today in an op-ed in the Miami Herald, Obama opens up a new front in that debate, calling for an easing of restrictions on the embargo against Cuba:

I will use aggressive and principled diplomacy to send an important message: If a post-Fidel government begins opening Cuba to democratic change, the United States (the president working with Congress) is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last five decades. That message coming from my administration in bilateral talks would be the best means of promoting Cuban freedom. To refuse to do so would substitute posturing for serious policy -- and we have seen too much of that in other areas over the past six years.

With his op-ed today, followed by a speech Saturday in Little Havana outlining his policy toward Cuba, Obama wants to use his original answer from the YouTube debate to draw further distinctions between his approach to foreign policy and the current administration - and potentially Hillary Clinton.

This is certainly a clever maneuver, whether it's smart politics or not is another matter. Dan Moreno, political science professor from Florida International University, thinks it may hurt Obama in the Sunshine State, telling the Herald, "He's appealing to the most progressive element of his party, and I think what he's underestimating is the large number of Hispanics in Miami-Dade that he could alienate himself from.''

But Obama is already trailing Clinton badly in Florida, so perhaps this is a gambit aimed at a much broader audience. It will be interesting to see how Clinton responds in this ongoing game of chess.