Castro To Obama, A Case Study Of Egoism and Egotism

The Young Castro Enjoys a Cubano With Confidence

What type of man wants to live as an Elite Socialist Leader? The two leading Socialists of the Western Hemisphere can give us an inside look at the personality of an entry level Socialist President and the final days of a Socialist dictator.

Jeffrey Goldberg writing for the Atlantic has scored a major scoop of an interview one of the first of the twenty first century, an interview with Fidel Castro. There were three profound subjects expressed by Castro that can and should affect the Socialist Ideology of our own President: the Cuban economic policy, the Cuban Missile Crisis, as well as Castro’s views on Iran and Israel.

The two leaders, Castro and Obama, have both been susceptible to egoism and egotism. Castro is now retired and reflecting back on fifty years of trying to build a Socialist Utopia in Cuba, but in the beginning he was both the consummate egoist and egotist. (In a literary definition, rather than a neurological definition) An egoist perceives all questions in relationship to oneself and having exalted opinions of self and the ability to derive and know the correct answer or direction in all matters. With a leader the state becomes the self, the ideas of others or their wishes are only obstacles to that they must over come to see the wisdom of the Elite Leader. The egotist is merely wrapped up in his opinion of himself, a Narcissist who is easily identified by over use of the word “I”. He merely occupies conversation with boastfulness and boring expressions of how he is accomplishing all the mundane challenges of life, job, or office. At first, people are interested until they realize the speaker is no more unique than anyone else and possibly less. A common result of over exposure for the Narcissist.

The difference is a measure of degree and possibly of neurosis and psychosis. An egotist may just be a bore and an insecure person, not necessarily selfish to the point of being pathological. An egoist has advanced the disorder to the point of a psychopathic disorder or to a degree that the earth or at least a country revolves around him.

We have all observed the President’s overuse and joy of using the “I” word. It is one of the reasons people have become bored with his televised appearances and no longer tune in to see the Narcissist preen for the camera. Fidel’s early days were filled with the “I” word and the steady crack of rifle fire. Unlike Obama he had to maintain an iron grip to hold on to his island nation and with the help of the Soviets, he kept the US from wiping away his Socialist dream. So precarious was his position, it is easy to imagine him visualizing the State of Cuba as Fidel and Fidel as Cuba. For nearly a half century, most of the world accepted the illusion without question.

In the present, Obama is being denied the United States as a personal identity, relying on charisma and Socialist Ideology to direct the country, his campaign has lost its momentum: while, Fidel is facing an island economy that is mired in poverty and run by one of the richest men in the world. He now is facing a legacy of failure as a leader, gone is the revolutionary bravado and Socialist success that several of our Black Congressional Caucus members noted during their recent visit to Cuba. Overcome with admiration for Castro they returned gushing with praise for the Island paradise.

When Goldberg asked if the Cuban model was still worth exporting. Fidel replied:

“The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore,”

If Obama refuses to listen to anyone else, he should consider listening to one of the Major Socialists of the 20th Century. Obama’s plans for nationalization and Socialism will only work as long as there is faith in the American economic system; unfortunately, that faith has been eroding away for almost two years.

Castro seemed concerned with the plight of Israel and apparently has a close friendship with the leader of Cuban Jews. When asked of the Israeli-Iran Conflict, he replied:

He said the Iranian government should understand the consequences of theological anti-Semitism. “This went on for maybe two thousand years,” he said. “I don’t think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims. They have been slandered much more than the Muslims because they are blamed and slandered for everything. No one blames the Muslims for anything.” The Iranian government should understand that the Jews “were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed God. In my judgment here’s what happened to them: Reverse selection. What’s reverse selection? Over 2,000 years they were subjected to terrible persecution and then to the pogroms. One might have assumed that they would have disappeared; I think their culture and religion kept them together as a nation.” He continued: “The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours. There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust.” I asked him if he would tell Ahmadinejad what he was telling me. “I am saying this so you can communicate it,” he answered.

Castro went on to analyze the conflict between Israel and Iran. He said he understood Iranian fears of Israeli-American aggression and he added that, in his view, American sanctions and Israeli threats will not dissuade the Iranian leadership from pursuing nuclear weapons. “This problem is not going to get resolved, because the Iranians are not going to back down in the face of threats. That’s my opinion,” he said. He then noted that, unlike Cuba, Iran is a “profoundly religious country,” and he said that religious leaders are less apt to compromise. He noted that even secular Cuba has resisted various American demands over the past 50 years.

Again the Old Revolutionary has sage advice that the young Narcissist could learn from.

Fidel even expressed remorse over the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I asked him, “At a certain point it seemed logical for you to recommend that the Soviets bomb the U.S. Does what you recommended still seem logical now?” He answered: “After I’ve seen what I’ve seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn’t worth it all.”

Now we have two revolutionary Socialist Ideologues, the older more experienced one who actually waged a revolution and has passed through the stages of egoism and egotism, realizes that things didn’t go as well as they might have. The young Socialist is only just realizing that reforming the US into a Socialist Utopia isn’t going that well. He stills seems to be enraptured in egotism and is still overly fond of his persona; he doesn’t seem to have fallen into the trap of egoism, where the earth, the planets, the tides, and the moon look to him for guidance and permission. Perhaps his early political demise will be a blessing in disguise that will keep him from contracting the mental condition of egoism, since it took Fidel over 50 years to realize his own mortality and shortcomings.