TYRRELL: Obama's world tour. Maybe too 'superficial' even for Fidel

The Washington Times ^ | April 24, 2009 | R. Emmett Tyrrell

[Scanian]

Stop the presses! Finally, after half a century of staunch disagreement with Fidel Castro, I see the Cuban dictator has rendered a judgment with which I heartily agree.

Responding to the Prophet Obama's friendly conversation with his brother President Raul Castro at the Summit of the Americas in steamy Port of Spain, Mr. Castro, in the words of the Associated Press, "blasted the new U.S. president for showing signs of 'superficiality.' " After all the Hollywood stars Mr. Castro has hosted on his island paradise, you can rest assured he is a connoisseur of superficiality.

Mr. Castro apparently was angered by the Prophet's response to Raul Castro's offer of Cuban diplomats to convene with their American counterparts and discuss "todo" - that is Spanish for everything. Pardon my swanking, but while at the summit, the Prophet did some swanking with his bilingualism, too. He called Hugo Chavez, another Latin American dictator, "mi amigo" with near perfect accentuation.

Raul Castro had mentioned human rights, press freedoms and political prisoners as topics for discussion, and our president, in his innocence, thought Mr. Castro was talking about ... well, political prisoners - for instance the prominent opposition leaders who were imprisoned six years ago, many of whom still suffer in Cuba's ghastly hellholes. Mr. Obama also mentioned the Cuban government's larcenous policy of taxing the money that Cubans abroad send back to their families. That really irked Fidel Castro, whose denunciation of our president could put him in bad odor with his Hollywood fans.

Sean Penn, Oliver Stone, Michael Moore and the rest have had warm relations with Fidel through the years. The political awareness and activism of our actors and actresses go back generations to the selfless political engagement of John Wilkes Booth.

[subterfuge]

Raul Castro had mentioned human rights, press freedoms and political prisoners as topics for discussion, and our president, in his innocence, thought Mr. Castro was talking about ... well, political prisoners

No. In "his innocence" Brrack Obama thought he was talking about HIS OWN BELIEF IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND POLITICAL PRISIONERS of THE US, NOT Cuba's!

[HiTech RedNeck]

“Everything” seems to be only the everything that Castro cares about, not the combined everything that both sides in the meeting care about. Our “political prisoners” (actual spies), Si! Their “political prisoners” (dissidents), No!