With Florida Senator Marco Rubio preparing to be the next candidate to officially jump into the 2016 Republican presidential fray could Emperor Barack Obama be planning something dastardly? Rubio has booked Miami’s Freedom Tower for an event next Monday where it is expected that he will be announcing his candidacy. The Freedom Tower is of great symbolic value to a man who is representing himself as the American authority on all things Cuban and he will be playing to an adoring local audience of hardened Castro haters.

But with Rubio having blasted Obama over his controversial (unless you are a member of the Chamber of Commerce) “normalizing” of relations with the communist island it could be that Barry is about to spring a surprise. Obama’s State Department has announced that it would soon be removing Cuba from the list of states that sponsor terrorism.

As reported by CNN in the story “Official: Cuba expected to be removed from State Sponsors of Terrorism list”:

The State Department is expected to recommend that Cuba be removed from the government’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, a U.S. official told CNN on Tuesday, a notorious designation that has been a stumbling block in the establishment of embassies in both Havana and Washington.

“Our expectation” is that Cuba will be removed from the list, the official said. But the official cautioned the Obama administration has yet to make any formal announcement. While that announcement from the State Department is not expected Tuesday, it could come as early as Wednesday.

On a conference call with reporters, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said the State Department is “nearing its completion” of its review of the state sponsor of terrorism designation process. He did not rule out an announcement this week.

The announcement has yet to be made which should have the flip-flopping Rubio sweating whether it will come with such timing that it spoils his big party. It would be a way for Obama to stick it to a prominent critic on a day when the media will be swarming. Rubio would then have to answer questions about the removal of Cuba from the terrorist list instead of basking in the bullshit of his own carefully constructed “American Son” sales pitch. With Rubio’s hair trigger temper – especially over Cuba – it could even cause a public meltdown that would do damage to his already slim chances at scoring the GOP nomination.

It would be just the sort of hatchet job that Obama is capable of although there would likely be several of Rubio’s competitors who would love to see it, probably even Jeb Bush.