Obama's Idiocy

Fidel Castro has declared that the North American president, Barack Obama, is an idiot. In truth, he doesn’t seem like one to me. It’s very unlikely that a president, democratically elected by a country, is stupid; more unlikely, still, as the country is none other than the world’s largest power and said man has won the first presidential victory by an African American.

But to the 85-year-old Cuban leader, who has spent the past 52 years in the highest position of power, the president seems stupid. Fidel, stubborn as a weed, indefatigable like the rebel that he once was and still is, has not lost any of his revolutionary spirit or his exquisite capabilities as a dictator. Perhaps because of that, and with the combination of both circumstances, he is allowed to make fun of the North American with such a rash lack of restraint.

This is after the U.S. president had extended him a hand. Obama seems ready to try to considerably improve Cuban-American relations, even to the point of lifting the embargo that has troubled the regime since 1960. It was a blockade that caused suffering not only for the regime, but also for the great majority of the Cuban population, and this has been one of the biggest anti-American arguments utilized by Havana ever since.

It would be historic, of course, but the president needs a reason, a justification, in order to decree the end of the commercial, economic and financial blockade of Cuba.

Castro, who does seem stupid, has not provided him with one and this, despite the fact that the country is only staying afloat by some Caribbean miracle, as it is in the midst of absolute poverty. Despite the fact that the citizens have spent half a century suffering the terrible aftershocks of the bearded revolution, Castro is castling in his isolation — the same that has molded every aspect of Cuban life over the past few decades — in order to continue raving against the U.S.

It could surely be that he is the stupid one, or it could be completely the opposite. And perhaps this would go well for him. The latter possibility seems most likely, and only he could make it so. Even if Obama brings up his brilliant academic career, with his degree from Columbia University and his Ph.D. magna cum laude from Harvard, Castro has already more than proven his intellectual capacity. Not everyone is capable of governing a country for over half a century, even if his regime does seem to be more like a seizure that rules in a geographic expanse from which it is impossible to escape rather than an example of a tropical paradise with a good government.

In any case, Castro continues as before: stubborn and defiant before the critics and international demands, talking with the other two Castroesque presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela, and directing the destiny of a territory that was conquered in 1958, before the 44th U.S. president was even born.

In fact, when Obama was born, the Cuban commander-in-chief, with his olive green suit and his arm at his waist, had already been governing Cuba for more than a decade. Now it has been over five decades and, although he is not officially in charge, he still dons his tracksuit and everyone on the island pays attention as he perseveres in his fight against disease — much like in his long ago efforts to continue being the worst neighbor in U.S. history.

Obama, who has one year left in his pre-election campaign season, is trying to raise his popularity rating, which has fallen sharply in recent months, to a low 40 percent. He is seeking support from large groups of naturalized immigrants who form a good part of the North American electorate. Among the 50 million Hispanics, there is a clearly distinguished, powerful and influential Cuban lobbying group.

The U.S. president offers a substantial change to Washington’s policy toward Havana if the regime sends signs of significant political and social changes. There has been no specific request for elections or the emergence of a multiparty system on the island. But Castro has been quick to criticize the proposal, calling Obama a fool, while his brother Raul, who is involved in multiple areas of the so-called reorganization of the state, announced the closing of the historic Sugar Ministry.

The younger Castro says the ministry no longer serves any state function. Perhaps it is because, in the midst of the ongoing process of economically wrecking the regime, Cuba has gone from being one of the largest sugar producers in the world, with 8 million tons in 1990, to only producing a number in the low millions two years ago. Neither with sugar nor salsa, the idiosyncratic and radiant passions of the Cuban people, could the two brothers repair the rotting regime. But stupid, in the strictest sense of the word, they certainly are not.

Currently, the Honolulu-born politician is looking to be re-elected for four more years. The Holguin-born revolutionary doesn’t hope for as much; it seems to be enough for him to continue like this forever. Although the two leaders diverge on key issues, goals and procedures, to me neither are worthy of being qualified as stupid. It’s rather quite the opposite.