In the wake of the death of Cuba’s brutal dictator, Fidel Castro, President Barack Obama released a statement that failed to condemn him for his crimes. The statement left NBC’s Meet The Press moderator Chuck Todd perplexed, asking The New York Times’ Helene Cooper “Why was it so positive?” Cooper blamed Todd’s confusion on “a very Americano-centric view of Cuba,” and argued that Obama had a more nuanced understanding of Castro.
She denounced America’s understanding of Castro, “which is Castro as the, you know, satanic demon.” “But I think what President Obama’s statement reflects is that nobody in the rest of the world sort of agrees with you,” she stated before going on to praise the communist dictator and recalling how she grew up admiring him:
The Castro that I grew up knowing as a child growing up in Liberia was a Castro who fought the South African apartheid regime that the United States was propping up. It was a Castro that sent Cuban soldiers into Angola and helped to bring down apartheid South Africa. And so there's a lot of—There’s a lot of ambivalence when you look Fidel Castro that’s usually not reflected here. I think what President Obama's statement was doing was reflecting that. But I know you disagree with me
But Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute quickly retorted Cooper’s depiction of Castro as a hero, and reminded viewers of who Castro really was. “You can't forget that he did this all on the backs of the Cuban people,” she said forcefully, “This was an absolute dictatorship that crushed this island beneath their jack booted heel.” She then listed off the numerous other murderous bands that he supported from around the world:
Summarily shot people for disagreeing with the Castros, for 50 years they have been -- they murdered their political opponents and supported groups like Hezbollah, Iran, Maduro and before that Chavez, the FARC, and others. Let's not forget who he is to America.
Cooper’s only response was to try and brush off the facts by responding, “Again, this is a very American-centric view of Castro.”
Matt Bai from Yahoo! News chimed in to share how frustrated he thought Obama felt because of Castro’s death. Bai whined that when Obama was elected he was supposed be the millennials turning a page on history, but, “History just wouldn't quite get out of his way on his timetable. And here it is the very closing act of his presidency and finally he gets Castro out of his way too late.”