Fidel: A Lover Scorned

"The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore" - Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro has always struck me as a scorned lover, a man who expected to be embraced by his first love - the U.S. - but who was torn asunder in the end. I mean, the guy loves baseball, after all.

The Cuban Revolution was about justice, often brutal and bloody, but justice, nevertheless. Fidel wasn't a Marxist-Leninist. Within four months of taking Havana on January 1, 1959, he was in Washington shaking hands with then Vice-President Richard Nixon and denouncing any affiliation with communism:

"I know what the world thinks of us, we are Communists, and of course I have said very clear that we are not Communists; very clear."

Fidel has always known his audience.

So it doesn't strike me as a big surprise that Fidel is currently making news - via Jeffrey Goldberg - by aligning himself with current U.S. policy on Iran and stating unequivocal support for Israel's right to exist. He likes Obama's sincerity and loathes Ahmadinejad's religious dogma. This may be his last chance to woo U.S. sympathies before the Dems get torn asunder in November. Game on.