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TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2000

Huge fuss over boy not really about boy

It's been a good bet from the start that Elian Gonzalez would end up back in Cuba with his father.

And we also know that whether the boy returns to Cuba or stays with relatives in Miami, he will have food, shelter and the care of family.

How uncaring we Americans must seem to children in our own nation who don't have Elian's prospects as we expend the efforts of federal agencies and courts -- at who knows what cost -- to determine where one boy will live.

Youngsters being raised in crack houses in our inner cities -- if they knew about such things -- could wonder why the Justice Department, mayors, members of Congress, federal judges and other officials are not intervening on their behalf.

And if we want to be concerned about the future of children who are citizens of other nations, some of the attention and resources being devoted to a well fed Cuban lad could be directed to the youngsters on their way to starvation in Ethiopia.

Unfortunately, when Elian Gonzalez and his father go back to Cuba, the attention will shift from them to some other political fad of the day.

This uproar has had little to do with where the child should be raised and much to do with the philosophical schisms among Cubans and Cuban-Americans ... and among politicians willing to jump in on either side for an opportunity to posture.