Rich Lowry writes:

Castro has long lived off his cachet as a revolutionary guerrilla. For much of the left, revolution has become less an idea than an image and a brand — a pistol, fatigues, facial hair and anti-imperialist rhetoric are the accoutrements of left-wing heroism. This has assured Che Guevara his iconic status, never mind the totalitarian content of his thought or the viciousness of his actions. Castro has tapped into the same brand. He doesn’t have Che’s allure of having died young, but longevity has had its own benefits.
Castro is the last revolutionary still standing. And his was a real revolution. Venezuela’s left-wing strongman Hugo Chavez pales in comparison. He offers only populist economics and an obnoxious travel itinerary. Castro delivered the real thing: the expropriation of all foreign property; an assault on private real estate; the exiling of the Cuban middle class; the militarization of society.

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Ultimately, what probably attracts leftists to Castro is sheer power. He represents what the late writer John Francois-Revel called “the totalitarian temptation” — in this case, socialism with the ability to tell anyone who disagrees to “shut up.” Why else wouldn’t they instead celebrate all the former communists who have become Cuban dissidents? Or a jailed dissenter like Oscar Biscet who takes Martin Luther King Jr. as a model? Or all those men and women who risked so much to flee Cuba and live on the hope of a new birth of freedom in their native land?
They are the ones who deserved to be romanticized, who are the truly revolutionary idealists. But the Jack Nicholsons and Rep. Charlie Rangels and the trade unions pay no attention to them.

Yesterday in my neighborhood I saw a happy-looking young couple wheeling their toddler along. Mom and Dad were each wearing t-shirts, of different color and design, but both featuring the same essential content: multiple images of Che Guevara. Of-course, his image is one of the most ubiquitous ones in the world, but, somehow, seeing it on the chests of these two parents, who live in a comfortable neighborhood, in an expensive city, in a free country — and with the innocent toddler in tow — something about the entire juxtaposition was especially eyebrow-raising.

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Addenda 7:25 pm: From Richard Wells, some personal reminiscing around the subject of style being everything: THE BEARDS, GUIDO, AND ME — a good read.

From Jay, a link to a different spin on the Che pic.

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