Obama vs. Fidel: Africa tells the whole story on ‘hope and change’

In his historic visit to Cuba, US President Barack Obama appeared on the Caribbean state’s national television to speak of “hope and change,” just like he had in his 2008 presidential campaign but New York journalist and radio host Don DeBar tells Press TV that the president has failed to bring about either in his own country, which manifests itself in the “implosion” of both the Democratic and Republican parties in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Obama, who has normalized ties with Cuba after decades of adversary, “invoked… themes of hope and change” during his address to the Cuban nation on March 22, while “we find ourselves after two terms of his presidency with neither really on hand.” DeBar said, commenting on Fidel Castro’s criticism of “the empire” after the visit.

 “There’s a great shortage of both in the United States with people more disaffected and more distrustful of the political and economic institutions of the country than perhaps at any time in its history,” the analyst said referring to 2016 presidential race.

“And in terms of ‘change,’ there’s been almost none, in terms of real policy, from the Bush years.”

Obama’s registered trademark missing

The US president’s address of human rights issues as well as “free and democratic elections” on the island prompted the leader of the 1959 Cuban Revolution to react in a Tuesday column published by the official newspaper of Cuba's communist party Granma, where he denounced Obama’s speech as “syrupy.”

According to DeBar, the speech was the most “pathetic” part of Obama’s visit as the people are “not in the market for hope and change particularly the variety offered by Barack Obama.”

Castro, on the other hand, is an “astute thinker” with a “strong sense of reality and of real politics.”

Given the history of the US aggression on Caribbean nation, including an embargo that has not yet been lifted, Castro’s column “described the actual situation in Cuba in relation to the United States… in terms of President Obama’s attempt to lecture Cuba on human rights after asking for historical amnesia.”

Obama told Cubans to “leave the past behind,” recalling his 2008 slogan “Yes, we can,” juxtaposed with “Sí se puede,” meaning “if you can” in Spanish.

Fidel and his brother, President Raul Castro, however, believe that the US is “the one that has caused the wrong and is still doing it with the blockade” forcibly held in place despite global opposition, noted the American journalist.

Africa tells the whole story

Studying the two world leaders’ legacy in Africa could provide a holistic picture of the countries’ policies, DeBar said.

“If you look at the way that Barack Obama has related to Africa, where his father was born, by installing Africom, as opposed to the way that Fidel Castro has… by essentially delivering the fatal blow, by assisting Angola and the anti-apartheid forces inside South Africa, to apartheid of South Africa; I think it tells the whole story.”

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