Winners of the Fidel Castro Straw Poll: Clinton/Obama

Now we all know the most recent rumors of Fidel Castro's passing can be nothing more than a vast right-wing conspiracy to discredit what they knew would be the long-time Cuban dictator's prediction for the 2008 presidential election. Because if we can trust any source to present an accurate, fair, and balanced assessment of the political happenings in the United States, it is Captain Communist Longbeard himself.

Apparently, in an editorial printed in Cuba's youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, Castro pronounced his belief that a Clinton/Obama ticket (in that order) would be "invincible". Although the ailing (if even living) quasi-dictator didn't quite seem to know, or understand the politics and policies of candidates from both parties, Fidel was presumed to have placed his chips in the corner of "Hillary, the Clinton successor; [and] Obama, the popular African American candidate."

Though I guess if you want to be fair, it should be noted that Fidel never really came close to supporting Hillary or Barack, and what he actually said was that "Today, talk is about the seemingly invincible ticket that might be created with Hillary for President and Obama for Vice President." And this is in the context of yet another rant concerning what he believes to have been decades of failed US policy toward Cuba, with a small exception in Jimmy Carter. He did happen to include Hillary and Obama specifically in the article and says both leading Democratic contenders are wrong for demanding democratic change in his country.

If Fidel threw even the slightest bit of moral support behind anyone, it was (unofficial candidate) Al Gore. Castro says that the former VP, "better than anyone, knows about the kind of catastrophe that awaits humanity if it continues along its current course." Now this doesn't necessarily mean Gore is best suited to combat the problem, but hey — it's something!

I have always put Fidel Castro in the same category as Dr. Claw or Sideshow Bob, those antagonists who engage in crazy antics, zany speeches, and project a caricature of themselves to the larger world. Obviously, the state of affairs between our nations, the failing Cuban economy, the constant railings against our nation's leaders and ideology is no laughing matter. His weigh-in on the American elections was not really a surprise, though, and Castro's punditry will no doubt generate material for late-night talk shows.