Fidel Castro is stepping down. It's a bold move by him and I don't really see how he expects to stay in power doing something like that, but he's a wily fox and I wouldn't be surprised for a second if he didn't have some trick up his sleeve. It makes me think, though, because I watched the subtle, witty French film Blame it on Fidel on Sunday. It was about a girl with communists for parents and the "Fidel" in the title was definitely Castro. So I wonder--do I have the power to overthrow dictators simply by watching films with their names in the title?
I can only hypothesize that the answer is probably "no." Anyhow, I figure that it won't change all that much in Cuba, at least not right away. Fidel collapsed during a speech a couple of years ago and he's looking pretty old, so I don't think he has been all there for a while anyway. He's probably got some fairly competent people under him and probably hasn't relinquished all control of the government. We'll probably have to wait until he actually dies for any change, and with that damn Cuban health care system, there's no telling how long he'll live.
Age, though, is an underrated force in politics. Fidel Castro is old and probably too doddering to run a country, but it's worth noting that John McCain is only five years younger. I don't want to get into some big partisan debate. Yeah, I have left-leaning views on politics, but I actually believe that, if John McCain had been elected president eight years ago, he would have probably done a pretty good job--I would even go as far as to say he might have done better than Al Gore. Back then, he was a good man who trusted his own beliefs rather than toeing a party line on issues like immigration and guns. I think that he's not a bad man at all. I just think he has been coming across a bit lost lately and it may be out of senility.
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