Obama, Castro and the American Empire

By GERRY WARNER
Cranbrook Daily Townsman
Jan. 23, 2009
"I personally do not have the slightest doubt about the honesty of Obama when he expresses his ideas."
The speaker? None other than the man who has outlasted 10 American presidents, none of whom ever did him a favour, or his country. That's quite an endorsement! And coming from Fidel Castro it carries even more cred because Castro, along with Ho Chi Minh, is one of the few military leaders that have defeated the U.S. in war. What's the old saying about my enemy's enemy is my friend? Could this be the beginning of a long overdue thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations? In the giddy aftermath to Tuesday's inauguration, anything seems possible.
"But despite noble intentions, there are still many questions to answer," adds Castro, the bearded patriarch of the Cuban revolution. Once again, the revolutionary hero that rode out of the Sierra Maestra Range Jan. 1, 1959 and toppled a heavily-armed U.S. puppet regime, hit the nail on the head. Are good intentions good enough? The expectations hanging over the first African-American U.S. President are ridiculously high. He's not a new messiah. He doesn't walk on water. He gets up in the morning, pulls his pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us. If he has a magic wand, he hasn't shown it to anyone yet. However, having said this, it's still nice to dream and what follows is my dream and best wishes for the charismatic, new president.
Obama, in fact, has already made an important move towards one of the biggest dreams possible. He has ordered an end to the military commissions (trials) occurring at the Guantanamo military base. That concentration camp, and concentration camp is what it is, will undoubtedly go down as one of the darkest blots on the reputation of the U.S. in American history. It fair boggles the mind how an allegedly democratic, liberal and freedom-loving country could steal a page out of the gulags of the Soviet Union and the concentration camps of fascist Germany and Japan after supposedly fighting against those very atrocities in World War II.
Frankly, on the whole, I think the American people are better than that. But over the last eight years, they were conned by, without argument, the worst president in U.S. history, the most powerful and sinister vice president and their own fear and paranoia ignited on that fateful day in September. Yes there are terrorists in the world and they must be subdued. But in the name of fighting terror, U.S. military forces have resorted to the same tactics as the terrorists by indiscriminately killing terrorists, alleged terrorists and civilians in numerous locations around the globe and in the process the U.S. has become the most hated nation on earth. Hopefully Obama can change that. If not, we're all in trouble.
But like the proverbial ocean liner trying to change course, you don't turn the ship of state around overnight. I believe Obama has the intelligence and will to do this, but I believe some of the biggest forces he's going to have to overcome exist right in his own country. Let's face it, the U.S. is an empire now and empires are not known for going gently in the good night. Far too many Americans have grown comfortable with being "masters of the universe" and thinking the "American way" is always the right way. Obama is going to have to overcome this thinking somehow and the country as a whole is going to have to eat a little humble pie. That's a tall order.
But when you consider the world's only super-power is now the most indebted nation on earth with a deficit of more than $1 trillion and a trade deficit just as large, perhaps a little humble pie won't be so hard to take. But if Obama can somehow pull the U.S. out of recession and restore the pride, business savvy and entrepreneurialism Americans are so famous for, the sky is the limit. I'm sure most Americans are hoping for him to do just that, and judging by the world-wide adulation the new president seems to have, the task may not be as impossible as it seems.
The fact that Obama's first foreign visit is to Canada, I confess, gives me a bit of a tingle. Hopefully some of his magic will rub off on our pedestrian politicians here and together maybe we can all say - "yes we can!"
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