Confusion

As I sat knitting last night while G watched various news programs on television, I wondered, why do we continue to be obsessed with Castro and Cuba.  It was on every chanel in great length. 

I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis (even though I was a small child — I remember the palpable and incomprehensible sense of terror I felt), but the Soviet Union is no longer a threat and Cuba is a very small country.  Of course Cubans would feel deeply about this issue and well they should.  But why is the media preoccupied with Cuba?  Why do we, as a much larger nation, care and fear so deeply?

I am not going to argue whether Castro is good, bad, or none of the above.  I know people with strongly held beliefs on all sides of this issue and I myself am not that thoroughly informed.  But that is not germaine to my question.  I am not asking abut human rights, or the fate and rights of Cubans, or any other issues.  I am asking why does the fate of Castro and Cuba worry the US as an entity so deeply?

It just seems that there are far more important issues, issues that affect the welfare of this country and its citizens far more greatly than Fidel Castro.  Why aren’t we obsessing about those issues, rather than spending hours of prime time media analysis on Castro and Cuba?  Or is it easier to fret about some minor outside event than to deal with unpleasant truths at home?