Attempting to read myself back to sleep in the wee hours, I was brought fully awake by an exchange of dialogue on page 52 of Stephen Hunter’s spy thriller, “Havana,” published half a decade ago. Two soviet operatives tasked with the responsibility of assuring the rise to power of a talented young politician in fifties Cuba are discussing the qualities of their protégé, not known for his personal grooming habits, and sometimes referred to by his contemporaries as Greaseball. (All emphasis is mine)

“Forget his odor. Concentrate on his potential. Have you heard him speak? It’s magnificent.”

“I have heard some accounts. He likes long ones, or so I hear. And I hear he likes the spotlight.”

“He is ruthless; he has already killed in the gangstserismo politics of the forties; he is dedicated: he believes, if in nothing else, in change. He has that thing you have, Speshnev, that most of us lack. The magnetism.”

      “It’s called charisma.”

      Copyright © 2003 by Stephen Hunter

Considering the subsequent shambles their protégé, Fidel Castro, with his penchant for change, “if nothing else,” made of Cuba in the ensuing decades made the eerie parallel to our current political scene even more disturbing, enough so that I had difficulty going back to sleep. As my eyelids would begin to flutter, I’d begin hearing strains of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone soundtrack (track 11) while envisioning an America led to similar shambles by a newer charismatic leader, for the sake of change, if nothing else.

When I finally did succumb to Hypnos it was with the parting thought that to Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Jane Fonda and other Castro-enamored, liberal airheads, those eerie chords could serve as both a lullaby and an election anthem.

Dee, Dee, Dee, Dee… Dee, Dee, Dee, Dee…

Contributed by Russ Vaughn on April 23, 2008 at 01:05 AM in Obamanation, Russ Vaughn | Permalink

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