Barack Obama's courage to speak the unspeakable about revising our disastrous and sclerotic Cuba policy is now matched by his willingness to pose as just another establishment candidate when it comes to the most sustained trade embargo in modern history.

Not missing an opportunity to miss the obvious, liberal blogger Steve Clemons opened his item about Fidel Castro's resignation as the world's most actuarially frustrating dictator today with this remark:

OK -- Which of the presidential candidates is prepared to finally break US-Cuba relations out of the anachronistic Cold War cocoon they have been frozen in and initiate a new course that benefits American interests?

Barack Obama has sketched out the initial steps of a changed direction already, while Hillary Clinton in response said that the Bush administration's management of Cuba was just fine with her until something triggered a reason to change.

Now it is true that Obama published an op-ed in the Miami Herald in late August of last year arguing, reasonably enough, that the U.S.-imposed travel ban on Cuban-Americans, and the ban on allowing them to send money back to relatives on the island, should be lifted. The L.A. Times gave Obama credit for this judgment, tasking him only with not going far enough--the ban should be lifted categorically,Peas in a pod on Cuba for all U.S. citizens, the paper said. Obama had also listed Castro as one of the nefarious heads of state he wouldn't mind sitting down with as president, a hypothetical for which he was lambasted by Clinton as naïve and unready for the Oval Office.

But is Obama's position with respect to the trade embargo, which has been in place since 1962 and represents the most influential aspect of our non-engagement with Cuba, really all that different from Hillary's position, best defined as "Wait and see what Cuba does first"?

No.

Here is the Illinois senator's official statement responding to El Presidente's long overdue farewell:

If the Cuban leadership begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change, the United States must be prepared to begin taking steps to normalize relations and to ease the embargo of the last five decades. The freedom of the Cuban people is a cause that should bring the Americans together.

If the Cuban leadership.... Nowhere do I see in this latest pivot any concession to altering the status quo without the first gesture coming from Havana. Obama may have toughened up his rhetoric on the Communist regime as a way of performing damage control for the Che Guevara flag incident that embarrassed his campaign last week. But his statement is virtually indistinguishable from what Hillary Clinton said today:

I would say to the new leadership, the people of the United States are ready to meet you if you move forward towards the path of democracy, with real, substantial reforms. The people of Cuba yearn for the opportunity to get out from under the weight of this authoritarian regime, which has held back 11 million talented and hardworking citizens of the Americas. The new government should take this opportunity to release political prisoners and to take serious steps towards democracy that give their people a real voice in their government.

Not that Clemons or any of the other members of the Advent of the Lord political blogosphere would purposefully perpetuate a false distinction between the Messiah and the Bitch, of course.

As Deval Patrick might have phrased it, "Helms-Burton Act -- just policy."

One of the most common characteristics of the authoritarian personalities who end up becoming dictators is their refusal to see themselves as fallible human beings, capable of mistakes or misjudgements. Hugo Chavez is not yet a dictator but he is behaviour has created justifiable concern that he may be heading in that direction. His acceptance of defeat in the referendum indicates he is willing to play by some of the rules of democracy but his reaction to that loss is yet more evidence of his disturbed personal and political personality. 

Because, in his search for blame, Chavez points the finger at almost everyone except himself. Unable to accept that maybe, just maybe, people felt that term limits are a sensible part of the checks and balances of a democracy, unwilling to consider that his demagogic rhetoric about no-voting "traitors", "fascists" and "mental retards" who were "voting for Bush" smacked of both desperation and lack of respect for the Venezuelan people, Il Presidente is now pointing the finger closer to home.

"Chavez, who met government advisors and military commanders outside Caracas to wait for the results, said congress hindered the plan's passage by splitting it into two blocks, the Caracas- based daily reported, citing the unidentified witnesses. Chavez also said his Venezuelan Unified Socialist Party lacked leadership, Nacional reported.

So congress and the party to blame - hmm, when a generalissimo starts to attack his own party and a congress it controls, you sense that there may be trouble on the horizon.

And of course, it is not just his closest political allies who are to blame: "Maybe the nation needs to mature more before we construct socialism," he said.

In both cases, Chavez, who has followed the classic authoritarian-demagogic approach of creating an external foreign threat, a fantastical fear of invasion, is indicating that only he is capable of carrying the country on the path towards ‘socialism'. The party and congress can't be trusted and the people are immature - no wonder he finds it so important to centralise power in his own hands and keep it until "until the last bone of my skeleton dries up."

The danger in all of this is, of course, that after a period of licking his wounds, Chavez comes back determined to press on with his authoritarian agenda (he has already said the proposals are halted only "for now") but also with little or no respect for his allies who he now views with suspicion, especially as some key figures switched to the No vote during the campaign. 

Chavez certainly believes he represents ‘the people" (in the crude communist sense of the term) and it is only a short step from his current rhetoric to start to view any political obstacles as "anti-people".

Add to the mix an opposition emboldened by their triumph and increasingly led by the radical and active student movement (as opposed to compromised old-school politicians) and there is potential for some very hot days indeed in Venezuela. 

Those who view Chavez's reluctant acceptance of the ‘No' as proof that he is a democrat and not a dictator are only half right - he is still not yet a dictator.

(Footnote: One wonders what contortions the Cuban media had to go through in reporting the Chavez defeat. After all, the line from US sympathisers "Look, he is a democrat!" doesn't quite work as well in Cuba does it? "It was a 'veni, vidi, vinci' of dignity and ethics," said Castro. Well Fidel, when are you going to offer the Cuban people a vote on, well, anything?)

Castro Says He Warned Chavez About US

Castro, the survivor of many C.I.A attempts, warns his friend Hugo of the United States wishes. The two men and their nations have strengthened ties since the collapse of the Soviet Union, where Venezuela has picked up the economic slack from Cuba’s loss of Soviet sponsorship. A vote on Sunday could greatly increase the Socialist powers of the South American state.

Why Putin Does it?

Putin is taking Russia back to a strongman format and the world yawns. Putin, tired of being pushed around (as he sees it) is ready to have Russia re-emerge as a super-power. He starts by suspending a treaty limiting the number of troops on European soil.

Olmert: Jerusalem Israeli Issue Not Jewish

As more and more Jewish groups vocalize about the need to not give up Jerusalem, Olmert decries “American” Jews who wish to bully the state. It seems that Olmert has really “gone native” is his quest for history. Shas states that it will bolt if the city is even mentioned.

US Withdraws Mideast Resolution at UN

The U.S. Withdrew a resolution supporting the agreements reached at the Annapolis Summit. It seems the text had not be cleared through the Arabs and Israelis before it was submitted to the Security council. It is important that there be a non-binding resolution if there has to be one at all.

Nazi Archives Saving names from the Lost

The archives have finally been opened and researchers and families will be able to track names of those lost in the Shoah. The archives have been closed since after the war and it has taken many years to finally get the archives opened.

Enlisted with the Marines at 61

Dr. Bill Krissoff has been commissioned a lieutenant commander in the Navy reserves, wanting to serve since one of his sons was killed by a roadside bomb while serving. During a meeting with President Bush, Krissoff spoke of his desire to join the service and help. As an accomplished physician, the good doctor was taken in and plans to give back by caring for wounded military.

• "The Bourne Ultimatum" looking good [The Hollywood Reporter], and in the battle of the Jameses, Bourne could kick Bond's ass. [CNN]
• Tour de France leader booted from the race after testing positive for a blood transfusion. [The Huffington Post]
• Speaking in New Hampshire, McCain says his campaign is back on track. [The Boston Globe]
• Considering a perjury investigation into Gonzales's testimony. [The Huffington Post]
• Kanye West is a rural white guy. [Rolling Stone]
• J.K. Rowling talks about the ending. [The New York Post]
• Slate's Emily Bazelon on whether the left can reign in the Roberts Supreme Court. [Slate]
• Raul Castro to address Cuba on Revolution Day. The interim president speaks behind a statute of his brother, Fidel. [The New York Times]

• Michael Moore's team transported former Grand Zero workers to Cuba for free health care

• Trojan's condom-toting pigs

• An L.A. Times series on Jerusalem 40 years after the 1967 war

• China to show off Olympic torch at Everest via $20 million highway

• The Vatican's defensive driving course

(This post edited to preserve the integrity of China's highway dept., for not spending $20 billion)

A family friend in Chicago just told me about a group of students from Northwestern who are collecting new and used Jewish educational books and other resources for the Jewish community in Cuba. I’ve been in touch with Marshall Miller, the student spearheading this effort, and he’s sent me some information. If there are any Jewcers out there who think they have contributions you can send me a message through Jewcy, or you can e-mail MarshallJews in Cuba: We'll see you in C-U-B-A at mhm777 [at] northwestern[dot]edu.

Here’s Marshall’s message:

At the end of this past March, twenty-five Northwestern students spent 8 days visiting the Cuban Jewish community on a trip sponsored by Northwestern Hillel. We were a diverse group of Jews and non-Jews, but we all had the same mission of connecting with and supporting the small but strong Cuban Jewish community. There are approximately 1,500 Jews in Cuba, most highly concentrated in Havana. Because of the trade sanctions placed upon Cuba under the Castro regime, Cuban Jews, along with all other Cubans, have been cut off from the rest of the world both in information and supplies. They lack clothing, medicine, and Judaic materials, which they desperately need in order to keep their community together. It was our mission to collect as much of these things as we could and deliver them to the Patronato, the center of Jewish life in Havana, which holds services, Hebrew classes, social events, and hosts the only private pharmacy in Cuba.

After the experience we had in Cuba, we in the Hillel group that went have been trying to stay involved and continuing to support the Havana Jewish community. One of the ways we know we can do that is by continuing to collect aid to be sent on trips to Cuba taken by other groups. While we were at the synagogues in Cuba, Jewish leaders told us that something they would really like us to send is Jewish educational materials, such as Hebrew books or workbooks and Jewish and Israeli history books. This would help them to generate enthusiasm in the culture, and also to prepare the members of the community who are likely enough to obtain the resources to make aliyah to Israel.

We are looking to the Jewish community for support in our ongoing mission. We are hoping that local synagogues and Hebrew schools are willing to donate some new or used Jewish educational materials of any sort that we can send along to Cuba through future trips.

Marshall’s especially interested in communities in and around Chicago that might be able to help out, but if you’re from farther afield it’s still worth it to shoot him an e-mail and see if you can work something out.

For more information on the Jewish community in Cuba, check out this recent article from the NY Times.