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As the child and grandchild of family members who fled Cuba as the castros revealed their true selves, I know of what the writer speaks.
But to compare what happened in Cuba with what is happening in the current American political campaign is an insult.

The comparison is false for two reasons: First, whatever you think of Obama, it would be impossible for him to transform his presidency into a dictatorship. The checks on that are too many to mention.

Secondly, and more importantly, the comparison is an insult to those who have suffered, and continue to suffer, because of the castro dictatorship. It is an insult to take that suffering and use it as debating point in a presidential race. Their suffering and their legacy deserve much better from their descendants.

Marc, maybe you should write a guest column at the Daily Kos if you feel this way. After all, we intransigent hard-liners only have our experience and that of our parents to guide us, not a journalism degree.

I do not think the author of the letter which inspired this video really meant to draw such a direct parallel between Castro and Obama, Marc. I think his point was that when you have a demagogue, such as Obama, running on slogans and catch phrases, you are usually in for a rude surprise.

I agree that the US has too many checks and balances for someone like Obama, no matter how charismatic, to destroy the democracy this country was founded upon. But I do not agree with you that the comparison made by the author of this letter is an insult to the memories of those that have and still suffer because of the Castro regime.

I, too, am a child and grandchild of a family that fled the Cuban dictatorship. A very close uncle of mine was jailed and tortured for several years--first in La Cabaña, and then Taco Taco--just for expressing his disagreement with the Castro regime. But I am not insulted by the author's comparison.

Obama, regardless of his intentions, is using the same techniques that Castro used, and before him, Hitler used. It is not a crime, nor is it an offense to anyone who suffered at the hands of these murderers, to point this out by using these examples. I have no reason to believe that the author of that letter intended to make light of the suffering of the Cuban people. Therefore, I have no reason to be offended, and neither should you.

George, my family shared the same experience, many times over.

But the suggestion that Obama is fooling the USA as castro fooled many in Cuba does them no service. There is plenty on which to challenge Obama — including his claim to being an agent of "change. But to suggest he is a castro-in-waiting is ridiculous. In fact, I think it insults our parents and grandparents and diminishes what they experienced, and what Cubans on the island today are suffering.

It's the same reason it is foolhardy to compare right-wingers with Nazis, as that diminishes the suffering of the Jews and others who suffered under Hitler. It's a cheap debating trick, and there should be no room for it in the debate.

Let us also consider what McCain is offering when it comes to Cuba: More of the same policies that while viscerally satisfying, have failed to help liberate Cuba for almost 50 years now. We shouldn't be fooled by that, either.

Marc, in 1959 nobody thought that Cuba could become what it is today. Nobody thought fidel would turn that country into a communist nation. But he did, didn't he? I can never forget that the likes of Walter Duranty (a Pulitzer Prize winner), Herbert Matthews, and Miguel Ángel Quevedo walked the Earth and did as much harm to the cause of freedom in the twentieth century as the dictatorships they enabled and coddled. By ridiculing and slamming the legitimate concern that exile Cubans have with Obama's messianic rhetoric -- full of hot air, pretty words, promises and nothing more -- you are doing Obama's work for him. If you're for Obama, fine. Declare yourself. But don't pull this crap. Because you know damn well what the intent of the writer of that letter was. You're not kidding anybody here.

I agree with Albert. I think the point is political demagoguery and that's it. If Obama gets elected and when he f**ks up the country like Jimmy Carter did, then the people will vote him out of office.

Castro did not come via popular election. He made himself "the law" and crowned himself ala Napoleon.

He had the military with him and purged the opposition.

here the Prez is term limited to two terms.

-----------------

Now, barring a catastrophic event, the chances of any president instituting martial law here in the US slim and none. And even then, a sitting president and still be removed via impeachment.

Frankly to suggest any president is going to turn the USA into any type of dictatorship is reading too many Clancey novels or reading the lefty rags who are saying Bush is creating a fascist state. Even the lefty's more reviled person, Bush, is gone in January. Thus, the system works.

Don't tell me it can't happen here, Mike, when the President wields the power of the Executive Order. And with a Dem Congress, who knows.

Some may find this comparison odious, but so be it. The past is prologue: Other than those who voted for him in 1933, nobody thought the pathetic, laughable little corporal with the funny mustache had a chance of becoming Germany's Chancellor. In three short years, he had turned a moderate to left democracy in Central Europe -- one with a hell of a lot of social and economic problems -- into a dictatorship. The people loved him. He promised change. And he fulfilled his promises.

This is a cult of personality, not a candidacy.

George, I am not ridiculing or slamming the concerns of anybody. I know of what the writer describes. My family, which included many fidelistas, experienced the worst the castro dictatorship had to offer, up to and including the firing squad execution of my grandfather's cousin. I know how many people, in Cuba and overseas, were fooled.

I just think that legacy deserves better than to be twisted to malign a presidential candidate. Those of us who work to tell our stories and those of our families, really deserve better than to have those stories distorted for political purposes. What this letter does is distort the candidate's record, which I really don't care about, but worse, it diminishes the impact of what our parents and grandparents suffered.

And it diminishes the suffering of Cubans on the island today.

It doesn't to me, Marc. And I can tell you that the number of elderly Cubans who talk to me and tell me this guy reminds them of you-know-who is not low. I've even had recent arrivals (ten years or less) tell me the same damn thing. They lived it and they should know. Don't go telling me that maligning a presidential candidate diminishes the suffering on the island. We need to shine a bright light on what can potentially happen in an Obama Presidency: no freedom for Cuba, status quo for the castros, and a continuation of suffering and slavery on the island.

george even with a prez and compliant congress, there's always the Supreme Court

hence why are system is as genius as it is.

Marc, you argue that the letter penned by Mr. Alvarez distorts the record of a candidate. I beg you to stand corrected. This letter in fact, does not mention the name or record of any American politcal figure whatsoever. What the letter does address is the misgivings of political hyperaction, that citizens of a nation must be diligent, cultivating their sentiment and aspiration for politcal figures with education and a provacative scrutiny, that they not let themselves as a society be caught up in an epoch, which is what happened to our families in Cuba. I too, am a son, and grandson of Cuban expatriots, and like Mr. Alvarez, I have a concern for America, the country and home of my birth, that, We the People, should not get shafted by a politcal ego bent on saying or doing anything in order gain the power of office. This type of thing is the antithesis of change, this is political licentiousness ad nauseam.

Marc, if you're offended by the comparisons, you're entitled to your opinion, but you're holier than thou comment is insulting. My dearest friend, who like so many others has lost everything because of castro, for months has been busy talking to everyone who will listen to her of the dangers of Obama because he reminds her of a young fidel, and scares the crap out of her. She loves the United States, and cannot bear the damage Obama may inflict on our great nation. If you think it's just cheap politics, you are wrong. People have an obligation to speak out against perceived evil, to do nothing is collaboration. Obama is a dangerous man.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.
Benjamin Franklin

Ziva -

The comparison is offensive because it diminishes the evil that the castros have caused.

People not familiar with the Cuban experience will just see it as a cheap debating point or worse, another example of those "crazy Cubans" trying to scare us. The experiences of those of us who either directly suffered or who have family who suffered, deserve better. We should concentrate on telling those stories, and how the suffering is continuing today. And we should hold the candidates accountable for their positions on Cuba. Do all of that, but don't smear a candidate for president with the suggestion he is a dictator-in-training.

The fact of the matter, is all politicians, all presidents disappoint. They say and promise one thing, and do another. What is bothersome about the anti-Obama rhetoric here at Babalu and elsewhere is how it plays on our fears, as Americans and in this case, as Cuban Americans. For the past 20 years, we have had presidential candidates and presidents who play on those fears and offer little else. Surely, the arguments against Obama are better than that.

Finally, if elected, Obama may cause a lot of problems but I don't imagine they will include executions, forced exile, the loss of their possessions and the establishment of a gulag. To suggest as much is a cheap trick, and betrays the experiences of those who survived those tortures.

Tell me Marc, how many emails have you received telling you they are offended by the comparison, because I hear the opposite, so speak for yourself. You're offended fine, many are not and agree with the comparison. Obama is fact friends with former 60's radical terrorists who advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. Government, our democracy is only as solid as its defenders. Don't say it can't happen here, it can.

Ziva - Whether you or anyone else is in lockstep with me is not the point. It does not enhance or diminish the offense. I know what my experience and that of my family has been, and yes, I am offended by the comparison.

The legacy of the Cuban experience is ill served when it is used only to make a rhetorical point in the context of the American presidential campaign. Yes, I have heard from those who agree with me, but they don't want to get into a pissing match with people who fail to stop to consider the real ramifications of this letter and instead just impugn the motives of those who disagree with them. I probably should take a lesson from them on that point, as I really don't have to explain or defend my credentials to speak on this subject.

I am offended not only as a Cuban, but as an American. Ours is by design the best political system in the history of man. I just don't understand why we have to demean it by suggesting that this candidate or another is the devil incarnate, or worse, another castro.

Mark, I agree the United States has the best system of government, but I also believe that the system has been seriously compromised by the radical left of the Democratic Party. Nancy Pelosi, third in line for the succession is actively trying to abridge the free speech of those who publicly disagree with her by reinstating the “Fairness Doctrine”. Maxine Waters said she wants to nationalize U.S. Oil Corporations. Just to name two examples. Our system is only as strong as those charged with protecting it, ultimately us, the people.

You’re entitled to your opinion, so am I, and it’s not just Cuban-Americans comparing Obama to dictators. Whom he associates with and his own words are public, and fact. The way I see it, you yourself are using the suffering of the Cuban people in your defense of the candidate endorsed by the Communist Party of America. I find that disturbing and offensive.

Sure, you can compare American politicians to dictators. George W. Bush has shown many times over — the detainees at Gitmo, the Patriot Act, enforcement of wet-foot, dry-foot, etc. — how thin the line can be between democracy and despotism. So there, that feels better.

My point is, it might feel refreshing to vent against Obama by comparing him to castro and other dictators, even if it is not grounded in fact or reality. There is plenty on which to criticize Obama or McCain, there is no need to turn them into caricatures. Because in doing so, it is their accusers that become a joke.

Marc, I think you really need to put that Obama bumper-sticker on your car and come out of the closet...

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