Analysis: Obama changes could test Castros' grip

HAVANA – Cuba's communist leadership has long cast itself as David standing up to the U.S. Goliath and the crippling force of America's punitive trade and travel embargo.

Now they have a problem: If Barack Obama follows through on campaign promises to ease restrictions on the island, he could chip away at the Castro brothers' best case for staying in power.

And if a new Democrat-dominated Congress takes Obama's moves even further, Cuban leaders may have a hard time maintaining their tight control over Cuban society.

"They'd have to throw out the whole script about American imperialism," said Phil Peters of the Lexington Institute, a Washington-area think tank.

Top Cuban ideologues are already worried.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081108/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_obama_1;_ylt=Avji7_bLqnBrThAyvq6wepwSq594

and they seem competent enough to provide for continuity of government.

That's what really has the Cuban exiles worried. They've been waiting all their lives for Castro to slip up and the Revolution to fail. It ain't gonna happen, and Obama is going to treat Cuba as a sister nation due the respect for her progress in environment, public health, going green, and so forth, if he has any sense...it's not like he needs the Cuban emigre vote to get elected!

Still, if they are making up excuses for dropping the embargo, it's a good thing. I look forward to both the explanations of how "We won!" against Castro and to normalization of relations with Cuba.