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One used to speak of President Bush as a "teflon" president--a man against which little scandal attached. President elect Obama appears to have inherited a similar quality, especially among his natural critics in places like Cuba. One gets a great sense of both the reticence of forwign leaders to criticize the incoming President and also the dismay at what they see as a return not to "change" but pre-Bush business as usual, in the recent quirte disappointed but restrained reaction of the former Cuban President to the announcement of Mr. Obama's foreign policy team. See Fidel Castro Ruz, Navegar contra la marea Reflexiones Del Compañero Fidel, Granma Internacional Dec. 5, 2008 (Sailing Against the Tide).

Castro starts by reminding the incoming President of the ten quesiton he had posed to the pressidential canduidiate back in May, 2008, emphasizing his great admiration for the "candidato afroamericano" (the African American candidiate) who Castro assessed as the most capable and politically astute of the candidates seeking the Presidency last year. "A pesar de las cáusticas interrogantes, no dejé de ser amable con el candidato afroamericano, en quien veía mucha más capacidad y dominio del arte de la política que en los candidatos adversarios, no solo en el partido opuesto sino también en el seno del suyo." Id.

But rather than respond to the questions--the usual batch of questions about the American position in the woorld and its reation to Cuba, globalization, consumption and development--to Castro's cha

grin, the incoming President has appeared to indicate some unsatisfactory responses through his choices for appointment to key positions. Imagine Castro's chagrin at the announcement of the revival of Clintonism as American foreign policy in the person of the former President's wife.

No olvido, por mi parte, que fue la rival del Presidente electo, Barack Obama, y esposa del presidente Clinton, que sancionó las leyes extraterritoriales Torricelli y Helms Burton contra Cuba. Durante su lucha por la postulación, ella se comprometió con dichas leyes y con el bloqueo económico. No me quejo, simplemente lo hago constar. (Id.).

But though the strike is direct and potentially potent, Castro is satisfied by simply mentioning the appointment rather thna complain about it. An equal measure of irony was used to note the appointment of Janet Napolitano, Robert Gates, James Jones, and Susan Elizabeth Rice--in Mr. Obama's own words. And thus the fear and disappointment.

Yet strangely muted. And disappointed. It looks like the good old days of the Clinton carrot and stick have come back. The promise of the exotically origined president elect appears to be dissipating in the realities of Mr. Obama's class loyalties, his allegiances to the ruling elites and his apparent eagerness for the security of conformity. I have noted the importance of class origins and loyalties in Castro's assessments of individuals. This perspective was critical to the cultivation of Brazil's Lula. See the four essays on Castro and Lula, recently posted. The first provided the set up for the discussion, establishing to deep-rooted commonalities binding Brazil and Cuba, Castro and Lula. For my discussion, see Larry Catá Backer, Cuba and Brazil, Part I: Castro Lectures Lula da Silva, Law at the End of the Day, Jan. 26, 2008. The second pointed to the bases on which a mutually beneficial and strategic alignment made tremendous sense for both states. For my discussion, see Larry Catá Backer, Cuba and Brazil, Part II: Castro Continues his Wooing of Lula, Law at the End of the Day, Feb. 10, 2008. The third pointed to the parallel developments of Cuba and Brazil, through Castro and Lula, and more importantly, the critical role that Brazil could play in the protection of Cuba and in th safeguarding of the intellectual and political independence of Latin America form the United States, see Larry Catá Backer, Cuba and Brazil Part III: Cuba and Brazil in Parallel Strokes, Law at the End of the Day, February 24, 2008. In the last, Larry Catá Backer, Cuba and Brazil Part IV: Bringing Lula Into the Cuban Orbit; Bringing Cuba Into the Brazilian Orbit?,Law at the End of the Day, March 7, 2008, Castro sums up his sense of the stage of Cuban Brazilian relations, and the role each plays in the greater amalgamation of Latin America against the United States. Here we see nicely drawn the political and ideological legacy that Castro wishes to institutionalize before his passing.

It is dawning on Castro that the partial African parentage and unconventional upbringing of the child Obama may not be enough to negate the class allegiance and intellectual training that shaped the man and placed him squarely within the nice center-left American elite--comfortable, safe, unadventurous, conformist, and unlikely to deviate in substantial respect from traditional American policy. Thus the disappointment.

And thus the warning. "Nuestros principios son los de Baraguá. El imperio debe saber que nuestra Patria puede ser convertida en polvo, pero los derechos soberanos del pueblo cubano no son negociables." Id.

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