More Celebrity Endorsements for Barack Obama: Kim Jong-Il and Fidel Castro

Sun, Jun 22, 2008 at 9:56:55 am PST

It’s nearly unanimous; terrorist groups and cruel dictators have made a clear choice in the US presidential election: OneFreeKorea - Obama Gets Another Unwanted Endorsement.

The Chosun Sinbo, the mouthpiece of North Korea’s Japanese front organization Chongryon and often for the North Korean regime itself, has announced its preference for Obama over McCain, whom it calls “a variant of Bush” and “nothing better than a scarecrow of neoconservatives,” which is a bit odd considering that the Bush Administration’s giveaway diplomacy is better for Kim Jong Il than even Clinton’s awful performance. 

It’s worth pausing to consider the disturbing rhetorical similarity between the Chosun Sinbo and Daily Kos, although the sheer incoherence of Bush’s North Korea policy makes any comparison to it questionable. ...

North Korea’s endorsement of Obama will probably draw comparisons to the unwanted Hamas endorsement of Obama, which Hamas later withdrew after Obama spoke at AIPAC’s convention.  Fidel Castro, by contrast, took a more sophisticated and self-aware approach:

[O]n Monday [Castro] gave Senator Barack Obama an endorsement of sorts, calling him “the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency” while also berating him for his plan to continue the trade embargo against Cuba. “Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries an enormous favor,” Mr. Castro said. “I have therefore no reservations about criticizing him.”  [N.Y. Times, The Caucus]

Which Castro then proceeded to do, on Obama’s stated support for trade sanctions during a campaign speech to Cuban exiles in Miami.

UPDATE at 6/22/08 1:03:58 pm:

Here’s a report on the recent North Korean statement on McCain and Obama: World Tribune — Obama offers change Kim Jong-Il can believe in.

And here’s the original Korean article it comes from: 조선신보사

(Hat tip: Josh.)