Ditka tops Guillen in ranks of former Chicago sports guys turned goofs?

There are those people who like to rag on one-time Chicago White Sox shortstop and manager Ozzie Guillen as some sort of irresponsible goof – somebody who despite his significant athletic accomplishments for Chicago ball clubs is just too much of a goof to have around.

How does not seeing racial oppression ...

But after learning of one-time Chicago Bears tight end and head coach Mike Ditka’s latest railing on national television, I can’t help but think that Ozzie is nowhere near as absurd.

FOR THE RECORD, Ditka (who led the Chicago Bears to their only Super Bowl victory ever back in 1986) was on the Westwood One pregame show prior to the Monday Night Football game featuring the Bears against the Minnesota Vikings felt compelled to ignore the questions about the Bears’ ongoing struggles to find a competent quarterback.

Instead, he wanted to rant about the fact that many professional football players feel compelled to SUPPORT the protests taking place in recent weeks during the National Anthem rituals that take place prior to pro football games.

Those protests started last year with one player trying to express his concern about harassment of individuals based on race. When President Donald Trump felt compelled to get involved in this issue with his nonsense talk about “firing” football players, those players started showing solidarity with their colleague.

Ditka made a point of saying he’d “bench” anybody who dared do such things on any team he coaches. But the part that gets the national attention was Ditka’s claim that, “There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of,” adding later, “I don’t see all the social injustice that some of these people see.”

... compare to 'respect' for Fidel Castro?

IT’S NOT SURPRISING to learn that a professional athlete lives his life in a cocoon that isolates himself from the daily realities of our existence. I also don’t doubt these guys think their physical skills in playing a ballgame at a high level somehow makes them worthy of living life in such isolation.

He may be the guy who doesn’t read the papers, except for the sports section so he can know which sportswriter to complain about for writing something he chooses not to agree with.

But it would be an exaggeration to say we haven’t had oppression in the past 50 years – although at least now the law is such that the people who try to pull off the most extreme instances can be prosecuted, rather than thinking the law is on their side.

These two youngsters likely never realized ...

Or maybe Ditka is just one of those types who thinks that certain people are supposed to accept the fact that they’re entitled to receive a certain level of harassment from society as a large?

I THINK THIS puts Ditka in a comparable category with Guillen, who led the White Sox to a World Series title back in 2005 – a moment that for some Chicago sports fans is more significant than that Bears Super Bowl title.

Remember all the loudmouth incidents when Ozzie played for, and managed, Chicago. Like Ditka, Guillen later got a one-year stint managing/coaching elsewhere (Miami for Ozzie, New Orleans for Ditka) and now is to the point where his only sporting value is as an occasional commentator for broadcasts.

Sports fans in Miami still haven’t forgiven Ozzie for his saying all those years ago that he actually had a certain level of respect for Fidel Castro – which I’m sure they feel is as absurd as Ditka trying to claim that no one has been oppressed in this nation. Personally, I always thought of Fidel as more of a third-rate, petty tyrant than a true world threat.

Just because many of the individuals who are oppressed belong to groups whom Ditka and people like him would prefer not to have to acknowledge. Which is the truly offensive part of all this cheap talk.

 

... the highs, and lows, they would reach

PERSONALLY, I’M MORE offended by Ditka, merely because his rant is so ridiculously simplistic – as in it’s difficult to believe anybody could think of life as being so basic. I couldn’t help but notice a report that one-time star quarterback Joe Namath responded to Ditka by saying “da coach” ought to look up the meaning of the word “oppression” to realize it has occurred.

It makes me wonder if Ditka is now material for Saturday Night Live – the show where he once was idolized in those “Super Fans” sketches. Would those same fans now ponder whether Ditka has gone goofy in his old age?

Just like some are pondering whether Guillen has lost it in his middle age, to the point where the most recent report I saw about Ozzie was speculating whether he’d be considered for the Detroit Tigers managing job that is now open.

He’s not in line for it, no more than any team would seriously want Ditka hanging around their sidelines during game time. A sad ending for two of the most intriguing ballplayers-turned-coaches to be a part of the Chicago sports scene in our lifetimes.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: One major Ditka/Guillen difference -- Ditka is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, whereas few people took seriously Guillen for the Baseball Hall of Fame the one year he was actually on the ballot. Which most likely is evidence that the baseball version in Cooperstown, N.Y., deserves more credibility than the football version in Canton, Ohio.

EXTRA: Castro step-down a let-down

EDITOR’S NOTE: This commentary was originally published Feb. 19, 2008 by The South Chicagoan, a sister weblog to this site that focuses on issues of concern to the growing Latin American population in this country. The fact that long-time Cuba dictator Fidel Castro finally departed this realm of existence Friday at age 90 and is likely to have his remains cremated later Saturday makes it semi-relevant again, particularly since a part of me wishes I were in Havana now to report the reaction.

  -0-

Fidel Castro, from back in the days when we'd let him openly enter this country. Photograph from Library of Congress collection

Every news reporter who is worth anything has a “dream story,” a realistic event that would be of historic proportions that they would like to be present at, so as to take a crack at writing news copy for posterity.

For me, any chance I ever had at covering my “dream” died early Tuesday when Fidel Castro officially stepped down as leader of the communist government in Cuba – bringing to an end a 49-year reign that had frustrated the will of so many U.S. presidents.

MY DREAM WOULD have been to be in Havana at the moment that the Cuban people learned that Fidel was no longer in control. I would have settled for being anyplace where people would have a special interest in the passing of Castro.

But now that Fidel Castro is officially no longer in charge for the record on the Caribbean island nation, I have to admit the reality turned out to be so far removed from any dream story I could have wanted.

Castro played his resignation to make it sound as uneventful as possible. The departure last year of Alberto Gonzales as U.S. attorney general occurred with more political drama than the departure of Fidel.

Making the announcement on the website of the Cuban government newspaper “Granma” in the early hours of the day ensured that most Cuban people knew little of the event, since Internet access in Cuba is so heavily restricted.

BUT THE SIMPLE fact is that Castro still looms over the government. His brother, Raul, who has been Fidel’s number two man since the days of the revolution against the Batista regime, is now officially in charge.

Raul Castro is not the dominant personality that his older brother, Fidel, is. A Raul Castro-led revolution back in the late 1950s likely would have ended with some hard-core, long-forgotten Communists rotting away in a Cuban prison, instead of being swayed by the cult of personality that is Fidel Castro.

That personality is going to ensure that the Castro ideals will remain in place. Nothing of significance has changed.

In fact, all this really means is that Fidel Castro is finally conceding he’s not a young man and his intestinal problems are so severe that he can’t even pretend to be in charge of the day-to-day operations of Cuba’s financially-strapped government.

HE WILL GET to spend his final years of life (although I understand that genetics indicate Castro could still have several more years to live – there are a few centenarians in his family tree) living in as much luxury as Cuba can offer.

He won’t be living out the wildest fantasy of many a hard-core exile in the U.S. Cuban community that uses Miami as its spiritual capital – those people wanted him overthrown, put on trial and dangling from the end of a rope (just like Saddam Hussein).

Castro, when he finally dies, will get the ceremonial funeral and will be forever remembered as a hero to official Cuba, while exiles will have to suffer with the knowledge that there’s no way they can spin history – Castro’s revolution won control.

They lost.

THAT IS PROBABLY why the initial reaction out of Miami was subdued.

Aside from a few Cuban flags dangling from Florida palm trees, there isn’t much in the way of celebration. Cuban exiles realize significant change has not occurred.

It was even good to hear President Bush NOT gloat. Castro has had control of his country since the days of President Dwight Eisenhower, and eight other men oversaw the U.S. government and had to “deal” with Fidel.

Bush the younger will be the president who will get credit, so to speak, of presiding over the downfall of Fidel in the same way his father gets credit for "bringing down" the Soviet Union. He will be the Leader of the Free World who will have to set policies that try to sway the Cuban people to think of the United States as a potential ally (instead of the source of all their country’s financial problems, as the Castro government spins it).

AN EASING OF the trade embargo that has hurt the Cuban economy while also cutting off U.S. businesses from what could be a desirable market for U.S.-manufactured and –produced goods would be a step in the right direction.

It might be the incentive that gets Castro the younger (Fidel’s kid brother is 76 Now 84) to seriously think about improvements to his country – instead of early signs that say he views Cuba as a potential China (easing the economic restraints of Communism while maintaining the rigid social controls of a totalitarian state).

How should we remember Fidel Castro?

The Cuban government is pushing the notion that the revolution against the Batista government resulted in free public education and health care for all the Cuban people.

THAT IS TRUE, to a point. The reality is that the quality of health care in Cuba is so poor and so scarce. Many Cubans can’t get needed health care – because it’s not available to anybody, not because of its cost.

And as far as education is concerned, yes, minimal literacy is higher in Cuba than in many other poor nations. There are statistics that can be twisted to make it appear to be better than impoverished neighborhoods in the United States.

But in today’s world, bare literacy is not going to get anyone ahead in life. Advanced education is needed, and for many Cubans, that is a dream often discouraged by a government that still wants to talk about the nobility of the “workers of the world” over all else.

And when it comes to Castro’s human rights record, it stinks just as much as many other third-rate dictators around the world. The sad fact of the Castro regime is that it overthrew one totalitarian dictatorship run by Fulgencio Batista and replaced it with one run by “los Hermanos Castro” (not the Mexican singing group).

BUT I HAVE a hard time singling out Castro as some sort of tyrannical demon (as the Cuban exile community of Miami is quick to do), because I know full well there are many other government “leaders” who run their countries with as much of a strong-arm demeanor as Fidel.

But since they are willing to denounce the label of Communism, the United States has been willing to look the other way. Heck, if Castro hadn’t declared himself to be a Communist after one year in power, the U.S. would never have dreamed of embargoing the Cuban economy. We’d be willing to make excuses for Castro’s overcrowded jails.

The past 49 years of U.S. policy toward Cuba have not accomplished much of anything. The United States did NOT drive Fidel Castro from power. He got to leave on his own terms, and name his successor.

PEOPLE WHO ARE insistent on having history record the Castro regime as illegitimate are going to have to accept failure, and move on for the best.

It’s not that I ever expect a sudden rush of exiles seeking to return to Cuba – so many decades in the United States have caused them to change permanently, and in the process become an important part of the larger Latino community in this country.

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Obama does Cuba; does it make much of a difference in our relations?

I’m sure there are some people to whom the only part of President Barack Obama’s three-day sojourn to Cuba that matters is the ballgame being played Tuesday between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cuba’s famed national baseball team.

Will there be lasting benefits?

Others, I’m sure, are going to downplay even that factor – it is, after all, just a pre-season exhibition (although the Cuban squad is filled with players who have been active in a winter season for several months, they’re going to ‘give game’ and play to win).

BUT WHAT REALLY is the significance of the fact that Obama felt compelled to arrive in Havana on Sunday, and spend the day at several sites around Havana of cultural importance? And also include a couple-hours session meeting with the brother of Fidel Castro?

I have long been a supporter of the idea of closer relations between the United States and is neighbor nation in the Caribbean. I have always thought the trade embargo our nation imposes on Cuba to be a failure – primarily because it has not achieved its goal of breaking the Cuban economy.

Granted, Cuba’s economy is in the gutter. But the powers-that-be there have managed to use it as propaganda material to inspire distaste for the United States. We play right into the stereotype of the “Ugly American,” and our business interests lose out on the chance to gain from Cuba’s assets.

Which is why I found it interesting to read the news accounts of Obama’s arrival on Sunday, to find crowds chanting and cheering “U-S-A, U-S-A” as enthusiastically as any sports crowd watching a United States team beating up on some batch of foreigners!

COULD WE BE on the verge of a significant thaw in the ice that has developed between the two nations? Or will the partisanship motivated by too many generations of ideologues be enough to keep things a mess for years to come?

The Tuesday highlight to end this particular presidential sojourn

Will the laying of a wreath at the monument to 19^th Century Cuban patriot Jose Marti (who actually lived a large chunk of his life in exile in New York City) be seen as a magnanimous gesture? Or as some sort of social surrender by a U.S. president?

I can already envision the rants that will come from some political people – those determined to see that nothing changes; likely because their own livelihoods depend on continued hostilities and keeping the image of Fidel Castro alive and thriving to frighten our masses.

Not much has changed since Ryan met Castro

Just think of how little has changed since that day in 1999 when then-Gov. George Ryan led a delegation to Cuba in hopes of putting Illinois at the head of the pack when the day came that the trade embargo was lifted.

THAT EMBARGO STILL remains, even though Obama has taken actions to ease relations between the two nations – such as restoring the U.S. Embassy in Havana and permitting an exhibition such as the Tampa Bay ball club getting a spring training sojourn to Cuba.

Although a part of me still thinks it would have been more interesting if it had been the Chicago White Sox and Cuban star Jose Abreu doing Havana to play the Cuban national team!

But back to our relations, which remain unsettled because of those people determined to undo anything Obama has done during the past seven years, One of those people is Republican presidential dreamer Ted Cruz – who is one of those eager to keep alive the image of Fidel as a tyrant threatening world freedom; instead of the third-rate, penny-ante, sorry excuse of a dictator he always has been.

U.S. foreign policy has done much (even more than those Soviet Union subsidies) to keep alive the Castro regime in Cuba, and it likely is a step (or several) in the Obama direction for us to truly give Cuba the boost in the direction toward the freedom we’d like to see them have. A significant part of that is gestures such as the one where Google will set up improved Internet access on the Caribbean island nation -- which will go a long way toward making the people desire a U.S.-influenced lifestyle.

OR AT LEAST something not so openly hostile to our nation’s interests as what currently exists.

Because I do realize what our nation’s primary interest will be is in creating economic opportunity for U.S. businesses in Cuba. Whether the Cuban people gain a less-oppressive government isn’t something we really care about.

It’s nice if it happens, but we’ve been willing to do business with tyrants in the past. Let’s not be hypocritical about that point. We’ll have to see if Obama’s presence in Havana these past few days will do anything to make a difference, and perhaps push Cuba in the right direction.

Lincoln's memory still revered in Havana -- even if his brand of cigars is a thing of the past

It makes me wonder if, a century from now, Obama’s legacy in Cuba will be remembered somewhere close to the way Cubans actually revere the memory of Abraham Lincoln – a thought I’m sure infuriates the ideologues of U.S. of today.

  -30-

Some people wish Ryan, Blagojevich could just fade off into the sunset

Some people are just determined not to wither away into anonymity – no matter how much the ideologically-inclined of our society desire it.

RYAN: Beginning 'elder' statesman niche

Because I’m not as bothered as some by the fact that our former governors George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich both popped back into the news columns in recent days.

I ACTUALLY FOUND Ryan’s weekend appearance at the South Side church that calls Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., its pastor to be intriguing in the way that George H. was capable of calling on international ties that usually wouldn't be associated with a state official to get something done.

And as for Blagojevich’s attorneys appearing in court on Friday to argue the merits of why his convictions should be overturned (or at the very least, his 14-year prison sentence should be lessened), well, that’s part of the legal process.

He gets to appeal. For those who’d rather not allow him the opportunity to challenge the merits of his conviction, I’d argue that’s an “un-American” thought to have.

I make such a statement because I notice that the Internet commentary on both of these stories is so overwhelmingly negative. People use the anonymity of such comments to make racist comments about Ryan, while claiming that one-time first lady Patti Blagojevich and the attorneys all ought to be silenced.

REGARDLESS OF WHAT one thinks of the gubernatorial stints of both of these men, such attitudes may be more despicable than anything either man did. And let’s not forget that Blagojevich is in the early years of serving that 14-year sentence.

While Ryan wound up doing six-plus years in a federal Bureau of Prisons work camp for his acts.

In the case of Ryan, he made what is being considered his first public appearance since being released from prison earlier this year.

BLAGOJEVICH: "Free Milorod?"

It was a memorial service on the South Side for one-time activist and South Africa President Nelson Mandela, and Ryan recalled the time he got to meet with the man.

ACCORDING TO THE Chicago Sun-Times, Mandela’s minions initially rejected Ryan on the grounds that he was not a national leader or other world-renowned figure.

But Ryan did make that trip back in the autumn of 1999 to Cuba and had met with Fidel Castro. Which meant that Ryan’s people were able to contact Castro’s people, who then contacted Mandela’s people to put in a good word.

That resulted in the initial meeting, and the fact that later when Ryan was seriously contemplating clearing Death Row of its 160-some inmates because Illinois’ capital crimes statutes were so flawed, Mandela was able to get through directly to the governor to put in his thoughts (which were in line with doing away with the death penalty).

Let’s be honest. That is a key part of why many of Ryan’s critics oppose him. Internet comments were more than willing to tie Ryan to Castro, the Mandela that was considered a “Communist” and the Bobby Rush of the Black Panther Party of old.

AN UNPLEASANT REMINDER that some people in our society are determined to live in their own little world, and wish they could force the rest of us to live in it with them – under their subjugation.

Those same people were upset that Blagojevich is able to appeal his case – in which arguments were heard before a Court of Appeals panel on Friday.

Some got all worked up over the fact that some judges on the panel were more than willing to ask questions implying that perhaps the sentence was excessive. Or that maybe the former governor’s conduct wasn’t really criminal – and that politics itself isn’t automatically bribery.

Personally, I’m inclined to think those questions came from judges who wanted to see if the attorneys would come up with a pompous or otherwise-stupid statement that would then be used to reject Blagojevich’s desire for freedom sometime before he turns 67.

BUT SOME PEOPLE are just determined to rant and rage that their desires to go overboard on Blagojevich aren’t being blindly followed.

Blagojevich may wind up spending more time in prison (even if he gets the sentenced lessened slightly). But we’re going to have to accept that Ryan is destined to become that political elder statesman with a colorful past (just like one-time Congressman Dan Rostenkowski).

This was just the first of many such public appearances he’s likely to make.

Which means I need to stock up on Tylenol for the Internet-induced comments I’m going to have to endure as a result.

  -30-

EXTRA: Miami boycotting Ozzie? He’s only as smart as his won/loss record

For all the cheap, trashy rhetoric that came from the mouth of Ozzie Guillen when he was manager of the Chicago White Sox, I can’t recall a single moment when anyone seriously contemplated boycotting the White Sox on account of him.

But now he’s in Miami and we’re dealing with the Cuban exile community, which is one of the most humorless batches of people who take themselves excessively serious. They're definitely not a group that wants to hear that someone “loves” Fidel Castro.

SO I SUPPOSE we shouldn’t be the least bit surprised that Vigila Mambisa is talking about a boycott of the Miami Marlins until they get around to hiring a new manager.

Fire Ozzie!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we're not even a week into the season. Then again, White Sox fans were always going to be the most forgiving group toward Guillen because we have known him for so long! That peachy-faced rookie depicted in his baseball card above seems like he was here just yesterday.

Venezuelan native (and U.S. citizen since '06) Guillen may well have put a permanent wedge between himself and the group that Marlins officials were hoping would be the heart of their fan base (considering that their new ballpark is located in the Little Havana community). No one in Miami  is going to be thinking in terms of "retiring" Guillen's jersey number the way some White Sox fans believe that "13" should be put up on the outfield wall in tribute.

As for the rest of us baseball fans? We’ll probably wait to see if the team breaks out of the rut (a 1-3 won/loss record) with which it has started the 2012 season. If they do, he’ll be forgiven. If they don’t, the call for a boycott will take on a multi-ethnic, multi-racial characterization.

  -30-

One-fifth of Illinois Legislature in Havana? What if they got trapped!

Call it my wildest fantasy come true – the 33 state legislators who on Wednesday arrived in Havana for a six-day journey through Cuba somehow get stuck on the Caribbean island nation.

How would Dan Burke ...

They are unable to return to the United States. Should we consider Fidel Castro a hero for helping us to do away with legislators who (had they been permitted to return to their political playground in Springfield) probably would have caused significant governmental mischief?

YOU HAVE TO to admit the thought is worth a chuckle. Because if we try to look at this trip on a rational level, the first (and only) question that comes to our minds is “What are you doing going to Havana?!?”

It may be one of the few logical statements made by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich when he tried to mock the actions of his gubernatorial predecessor – George Ryan – by saying that any action by Illinois officials to expand business with Cuba was a waste of time.

That trade embargo wasn’t going to disappear anytime soon, so significant business opportunities would continue to be thwarted in the name of ideology and trying to embarrass the Castro regime (which has shown throughout the years that it has no shame whatsoever).

But this week’s trip by 33 legislators is reminiscent of that journey that Ryan took to Havana back in 1999. It may be one of his finest moments as governor – or it may be further evidence that he was craven in character. It all depends on your own ideological hang-ups.

I'LL CONFESS TO believing the former stance, and saying that I think the people who want to bash Ryan for his Cuban sojourn do little more than show how small-minded they truly are.

One of the results of that first Cuban trip (Ryan later made a smaller-scale trip to Havana later in his gubernatorial term) is that Illinois companies worked out a deal by which they can sell foodstuffs and medical supplies to companies providing direct aid to Cuba.

... and brother Edward compare ...



Of course, that was only permissible because of some changes made back during the Bill Clinton years that allowed for some humanitarian aid.

Now, the legislators who went to Havana have hopes to build upon what can be sold, so that Illinois companies can make even more money off of Cuba when it eventually goes through a rebuilding period (which won’t truly start until the demise of the Castro brothers).

AND QUITE FRANKLY, Fidel and Raul aren’t showing any signs of dying off soon – even though the ideologues have had us thinking of the pair as decrepit old men on their death beds for decades.

What we really have happening this week is the same thing that George Ryan tried to do a dozen years ago – put the name of Illinois in the mindset of Cubans so that when they need precious goods, they will come to our companies.

Cuba is already Illinois’ fifth largest trading partner, with most of those items being agricultural products. There are a lot of business people who would like the figure to go up significantly.

That is what makes state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, think it worthy of  paying for this trip out of his own pocket, while state Rep. Dan Burke, D-Chicago, and brother of almighty 13^th Ward Alderman Ed Burke, and all the other legislators who went along for the journey decided to use the money in their campaign funds.

AS AN ASIDE, I can’t help but wish that Eddie Burke could have gone along on this particular trip with younger brother Dan. What would los hermanos Castro make of the brothers Burke?

Would the two brother pairings meet, exchange pleasantries, then depart, while exchanging snide comments about how the other was a couple of power-hungry, political animals?

And if they did, who would be more correct. Eddie and Dan Burke on the Castros? Or Fidel and Raul on those lovable Irish-American politicos who manage to survive each Election Day, despite the fact that their ward/legislative district is turning increasingly Latino?

Although not Cubano. We’re talking about a Mexican-American mix that the Burkes will represent both in the City Council and in the Illinois House of Representatives.

I COULDN'T HELP but note Dan Burke pointed out that fact in some of the news coverage written in advance of the trip – as though he thinks people who come from places like Guanajuato or Guerrero are going to be swayed because he took a propaganda trip to the land where Che Guevara is a real icon – and not just some hairy dude who turns up on t-shirts!

... to the Castro brothers when it comes to tough politics?

So if it seems like I’m being disrespectful of this trip, I’m really not. I think it is a noble goal – because the day will come (no matter how many aging Miami exiles rant and rage against it) when Cuba becomes a part of the real world again.

Heck, beginning next month there will be direct flights from O’Hare International Airport to Havana’s Josè Martì International Airport. No more having to catch a flight to Montreal or Mexico City in order to get to Havana.

I’m just wondering how much our sometimes-bumbling state legislators (this is the governmental body with a member who this year tried to give a full tuition waiver to the kid of an organized crime figure, then tried to rescind it rather clumsily) are up to this trip.

  -30-

Who needs enemies, when friends cause political people just as much trouble?

It is becoming easier these days for a political type to take the high road on the campaign trail – it seems that he can count on someone else to do the dirty work of making the wild accusations against their opponents.

Take the presidential campaign, where Republican John McCain can openly say he doesn’t like to hear such talk that his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is a Muslim.

THE LOS ANGELES Times reported that at a recent rally in Minnesota, one of McCain’s followers called Obama an “Arab” (intending it as a pejorative), to which McCain could apologize and say Obama is, “a decent … family man” (as though Arabs don’t care about family).

Chances are good all those people who attended the rally will have the crack about “Arabs” stick in their minds, and will view McCain’s response as just one of those things that has to be said, even if it isn’t really meant.

This isn’t to say that only Republican supporters are capable of saying mean-spirited things.

How else to view the comments of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who recently said that McCain’s campaign comments of recent weeks have reached the same level of mean-spiritedness as the presidential campaigns of former Alabama Gov. George “Segregation Now, Segregation Forever” Wallace.

THAT CRACK WAS outrageous enough that Obama felt the need to have his campaign issue a written statement saying that the junior senator from Illinois does not really believe McCain is as outrageous a character as was Wallace – the man who once justified his racial segregationist rhetoric by saying he didn’t want to be “out-n---ered” on issues by white supremacist political opponents.

The fact is that we have reached the point in this campaign season (just over three weeks until the Nov. 4 elections) in which the most memorable moments are likely to come from outside the two campaigns.

We’re more likely to hear many more instances of candidates trying to distance themselves from things other people said. And if there is a “gaffe,” it will be that someone did not sufficiently apologize for someone else’s stupid wisecrack.

Take a weekend rally in Johnstown, Penn., where Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin spoke to a crowd of GOP true believers (the only kinds of people she’s allowed to speak to these days, McCain handles the non-decisive types himself).

ONE OF THE people in the Palin crowd made a production of waiving about a stuffed doll of a monkey – one which had an Obama campaign sticker wrapped around its forehead like a headband.

Palin’s reaction was to pretend not to see it, which allowed those in the crowd to get their laughs uninterrupted.

It is responses (or non-responses) like that which cause some people to think that the Republican presidential campaign is determined to play race as an issue (and have the gall to accuse anyone who points this out as being the one who is playing “the race card.”)

Of course, this should not be a surprise, since the reason that the socially conservative Alaska governor was brought onto the Republican presidential ticket was to speak to the true believers of the right. To expect her to apologize is to be absurd. Apologizing is McCain’s job.

PALIN IS JUST a high-ranking person who can say the outrageous things that will get the GOP faithful worked up enough to go out to the polls on Election Day. That is what Palin’s continued rants about Obama being friends with “terrorist” Bill Ayers is really all about – even she isn’t vapid enough to believe what she says.

But then, there also are the incidents where someone truly “out of the loop” will say or write something that gets people all worked up – and puts the campaign in a tight spot. In such cases, the common-sense thing is to ignore the comment, even though it will get opponents so worked up that common sense would also demand some type of response.

That is the best way to view the continued writings of former Cuba leader Fidel Castro, who continues to write a column of commentary for Granma (the official Communist government newspaper named for the boat Castro and his followers used to start their revolution).

In an English translation offered up by Granma’s website, Castro wrote that racism is the only reason McCain has a chance to defeat Obama next month. While it is true that race is the issue in this campaign that no one wants to talk about for fear of exaggerating its importance, Castro is guilty of overkill.

HE CALLS McCAIN “bellicose” and says it is “a miracle” that someone has not seriously tried to kill Obama, similar to the fate suffered by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X.

“Millions of whites cannot reconcile in their minds with the idea that a black man and his wife and children would move into the White House, which is called just like that – White,” Castro wrote.
Either somebody needs to gag Fidel Castro, or we need to realize he's a political has-been who should be ignored. Photograph provided by Library of Congress collection.

Aside from the issue that this translation might not be accurate (some pundits are insisting Castro’s original copy written in Spanish is even more inflammatory), this has to be a headache for Obama – the candidate who naively thought at one point that he could run a campaign without referring to race because he is a post-1960s person.

Does Obama really want to issue a statement saying that Fidel Castro is full of it? Because by doing so, he turns the opinions of the long-time Cuban leader into an issue and reminds people that he once included current Cuba leader Raul Castro on a list of controversial world leaders with whom he would be willing to meet in hopes of achieving peace.

BUT BY IGNORING Fidel, he gives the social conservatives who are going to use this rhetoric regardless of Obama’s response a charge that Obama is ditching an issue.

Either way, he’s going to get trashed. Almost as badly as McCain is going to be every time some ding-dong GOP follower lets his support cross over the line into racist rhetoric.

And both campaigns will wind up going overboard in their purchases of Tylenol to cope with all the headaches both candidates will suffer from in coming weeks because of their “so-called” friends.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Fidel Castro belongs in the category of “Oh, Be Quiet” for his (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Castro_says_its_a_miracle_Obama_hasnt_been_assassinated/articleshow/3587065.cms) recent column about racial attitudes toward Barack Obama.

Both Obama and opponent John McCain have had to issue apologies, of sorts, for comments (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-campaign12-2008oct12,0,4050738.story) made by people who are supportive of their campaigns (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/12/mccain.lewis/?iref=mpstoryview). Just imagine what their enemies would say?

“President Obama” headed for Cuba, or so claims “the press” out of Trinidad

Reading “the press” from outside the United States is always a unique experience, as I can never figure out whether these accounts exist in some “bizarro world” or whether we are the backwards universe and these accounts somehow see the logic (or lack thereof) in our policy.

Take the “Trinidad Express,” which on Sunday ran a piece of news analysis that has “President Obama” already planning his first official visit to Cuba, where he would meet with Fidel Castro’s baby brother, Raul (he’s 76).

WHILE THE CAMPAIGN of Hillary Clinton is trying to push the idea that Obama cannot win a general election (one of her fans e-mailed me a URL of a website that predicts Obama would only get 265 electoral votes – 5 short of the number needed for victory), the Express says it is, “increasingly evident that Barack Obama is… set to emerge in November as the first Black American President.”

They then dredged up Obama quotations from his debate against Clinton in Texas – the one that was supposed to include a heavy dose of “Hispanic” issues and where Obama said he’d like it if he could meet with Cuba’s leaders. (For those who don’t remember, Hillary said she’d like to meet with Castro too, but she has conditions that must be met before she’s willing to have Air Force One fly to Havana).

Now admittedly, a newspaper from a nation in the Caribbean is going to have a special interest in promoting the idea of U.S./Cuba relations being restored to where they were prior to the Castro revolution of the 1950s.

The Caribbean islands tend to identify with each other, even if they are not all former Spanish colonies. To them, the idea that one island (Cuba) is somehow excluded by the United States seems ludicrous.

SO MOST OF their “analysis” was really a chance to take some pot shots at incumbent President George W. Bush (who was probably more concerned Sunday with the cleanup following daughter Jenna’s wedding than with anything published in Trinidad) for comments he has made in recent weeks related to Cuba.

They are more than willing to write puff pieces about the, “young, charismatic senator from Illinois (who) becomes the new tenant in the White House in January 2009,” as part of their way of reminding people that Bush is on his way out after this year.

Changes have been taking place in Cuba in recent weeks, although most are of the superficial type to create the illusion of a country that is opening itself to the rest of the world.

Regular Cuban citizens (not just loyal government officials) can now buy cell phones and computers and have access to the Internet – provided they can afford such luxuries on their miniscule incomes (it’s not like the Cuban government deems Internet access something to be provided by the state free of charge to the people).

BUSH, DURING A gathering of the Council of the Americas, called the Cuban changes, “empty gestures,” and said the Cuban government is still, “the same group that has oppressed (the Cuban people) for half a century.”

To which the "Trinidad Express" reminded us of the indignities imposed on Muslim prisoners held by the U.S. military at the base on Guantánamo Bay – the one portion of the Cuban island to which the United States still has some control.

Now regardless of what one thinks of Cuba, common sense dictates that the U.S. status quo (a complete embargo that cuts off the Cuba market to U.S. business interests) will have to come to an end some day.

When one realizes that Fidel Castro is finally retired and that Raul is not going to live forever, U.S. officials ought to be preparing for the day when gestures are made to try to restore ties to the nation whose primary city of Havana is only about 120 miles from Miami (just a little bit further than the distance between Chicago and Milwaukee).

IT WAS IN that context that I thought Obama made some sense when, during the presidential debate in Austin, Texas, he said we need to think forward, rather than come up with conditions that must be met by Cuba.

“The moment when Fidel Castro steps down is one we should take advantage of,” Obama said. “We must talk to our friends and to our enemies. That is diplomacy.”

It was in that very sense that former Illinois Gov. George Ryan made his own trips to Cuba, leading a delegation of Illinois business interests to meet with Cuban government officials (including Fidel Castro himself).

Were any deals worked out? No.

BUT IS THERE a chance that when relations are restored between the two countries, that Illinois businesses will be at the head of the line to sell their goods to Cuban officials? It’s very likely, and it is the reason why current Gov. Rod Blagojevich showed himself to be small-minded when he called Ryan’s Cuba trips a waste of time – saying he’d prefer to develop more ties to India instead.

There will be benefits to Ryan’s efforts – unless the Cuba embargo manages to last for another few decades and everybody who was present at those meetings is dead.

That’s very unlikely. Nobody (not even Fidel Castro) lives forever. The Cuban situation is going to change radically in the next decade. It would be nice if the United States had a leader who wants to address the situation now.

Despite that, I am not convinced that Obama will any time soon be visiting Havana. Should he manage to win the Nov. 4 elections, Obama is going to be bogged down by all the interests who expect him to follow through on his campaign rhetoric to impose change in the practices of the U.S. government.

THERE ARE ALSO going to be those people who didn’t support him who may very well hold a grudge and will go out of their way to thwart the objectives of an Obama presidency. The point of this is that Obama may very well find himself “too busy” dealing with other issues to have a Castro meeting in the near future (maybe during a second term, but that makes the BIG assumption that he is in a position to run for re-election).

So it was cute to read the “Trinidad Express,” but reality suggests their interpretation of the facts is just a little too “out there” to resemble reality.

Besides, if you want the ultimate evidence that the newspaper doesn’t fully comprehend the U.S. political situation, consider that their analysis piece made mention of the, “historic and formidable Obama/Clinton ticket.”

Anybody with sense realized months ago that Obama and Clinton are NOT the perfect pairing, and that neither one of them really wants to have anything to do with the other – should they be victorious come November.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: It must be a slow news day in Trinidad if a prospective meeting between a “President Obama” and “los hermanos Castro” constitutes (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161321572) news.

Barack Obama used a presidential debate in Texas to tout his desire that the United States figure out a way (http://southchicagoan.blogspot.com/2008/02/tejano-wars-obama-will-clinton-may.html) to normalize its relations with Cuba.

How will the Miami Cuban voter bloc react to Obama? It (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1655373,00.html) remains to be seen, since he didn’t campaign in the Florida primary.