Congrats to the Obama Administration...
... for taking one of the few governments in Latin America that actually is trying to respect its democratic Constitution and forcing them to disavow the protections in its Constitution against elected officials attempting to hold onto power and reinstate a strongman friend of Hugo Chavez.
From start to finish I have been unable to understand the Obama Administrations policy in Honduras. I just refuse to believe he is actively working as an agent for totalitarianism, so the best explanation I can come up with is that he made an ignorant mistake in his early reactions to the Zelaya and has since doubled down on the mistake rather than admitting it and reversing himself. This theory is consistent with John Kerry's attempts to hide the evidence of the administration's mistake, not to mention Hillary Clinton's personality at State.
In a foreign policy career that so far has been marked by a marked softness, it is amazing to me that the one place Obama has decided he is going to demonstrate his cojones internationally is in helping a wannabee dictator return to power in a democratic nation.
Bearster:
Why do you refuse to believe it?
Obama stands for statism in every word and every deed. From his mushy marxist response to Joe the Plumber "well, it's better, ya know, to like, spread the wealth around", to his radical, and sometimes violent close associates, to his America-hating pastor, to his policies now in office.
What do the following have in common:
- anti-white racism
- anti-male genderism
- anti-human environmentalism
- anti-West pacifism
- anti-wealth marxism
About the only anti-human plank that he hasn't exhibited yet (to my knowledge) is animal "rights".
Everything else is perfectly consistent. Not with the theory that he is somehow dumb or making a series of blunders. But with the theory that he loves destruction for the sake of destruction.
October 30, 2009, 9:20 amMethinks:
While you're busy refusing to believe what's happening, the Bama is working as an agent for totalitarianism.
You Americans need to learn from the rest of us. There is no protective, anti-totalitarian, anti-fascist, anti-socialist shield around this patch of land.
The longer you refuse to believe and bury your head in the sand, the more you risk living in a totalitarian nightmare.
October 30, 2009, 9:44 amDrTorch:
" I just refuse to believe he is actively working as an agent for totalitarianism,"
What empirical evidence would lead you to the contrary?
October 30, 2009, 10:18 amsilvermine:
Yea, I'm not sure you can take all of the evidence and get anywhere else.
Well, okay, one other possibility -- he's just an idiot puppet and the person pulling the strings is a totalitarian dictator wannabe. Does that make you feel better?
October 30, 2009, 10:31 amJames H:
Aside from the totalitarianism idea, which personally I'm not sure about at this point, this fits well into the appease the adversary theme that we see from the admin. He's been working to appease Russia, Iran, Palestine, Cuba, and of course Venezuela. I'm sure that the minute Zelaya was deposed, Hugo called and complained about it, giving some story about a "military coup" in Honduras. Finding a path to appease Hugo, and also a potential positive image booster by righting a wrong, O immedately set his mind to rectify this and didn't want to look into it further first. In the end, the vast majority of Americans (North Americans, anyway) will never have even heard of this stroy so there is little risk of political damage.
October 30, 2009, 10:41 amChris K.:
I also don't understand. In all other instances the administration has at least made an argument. Something that could be disagreed with and called shortsighted, stupid, etc. In this example they clearly picked the wrong horse and have been tightlipped about it. I don't have any idea what to make of it.
I can accept they made the wrong decision, they virtually always do. But this one lacks even the slightest an effort to explain themselves.
October 30, 2009, 11:17 amalanstorm:
I would say it has to be one of the options you mentioned: either is plausible and neither reflects well on him, or intimates anything good for us.
October 30, 2009, 11:18 ambearpaw:
Like you, I have never understood the Obama take on Honduras, but if we did understand it, I think it would shed much-needed light on his character and agenda. For Honduras herself, I am especially concerned about point 6 of the agreement described in Fausta's blog (the first bolded link above), which mandates a truth commission to explore the events since June. This is an open door for a kangaroo court that could hang Micheletti and debase the constitution so that no Honduran leader can ever again be challenged as Zelaya was for seeking more power.
October 30, 2009, 1:15 pmDr. T:
"From start to finish I have been unable to understand the Obama Administration's policy in Honduras."
Obama identifies with Zelaya. If Obama cannot get the 22nd amendment on presidential term limits repealed, he could pull similar shenanigans in 2016. Obama could get "grass roots" support for a third term, demand to be allowed to run, conduct a plebescite, and declare himself the victor and President-for-life.
October 30, 2009, 4:12 pmMesa Econoguy:
So far, he’s a fascist, and we know his unabashed preference for anything state-run. Obamalini (and his buddies like Rahm Emanuel) wants to run the big machine and make it even bigger.
While I doubt it will come to something like overt repeal of the 22nd amendment, I would not put anything in the “Oh, he’d never try that†pile.
It’s a far more insidious creeping totalitarianism which is being enacted here. The institutional damage being done in the name of “helping†is staggering, and will likely not be undone, and in a worst case scenario, will lead to the destruction of this country (in many ways, this has already happened).
October 30, 2009, 6:09 pmMichael:
If you look at the people he has picked for his czars and the type of czars he has created, supporting a dictatorship in Honduras is consistent with his world view.
October 30, 2009, 9:05 pmnom de guerre:
lesson #1 from human nature 101: "if you rally want to know a man, don't listen to what he *says*, watch what he *does*." i.e., 'by his actions shall you know him'.
the honduran constitution is crystal clear: "ANY president who tries to extend his term or powers in ANY way at ANY time is automatically kicked out of office, never to return." that's what zelaya did, and still obama backs zelaya.
what can we infer from these actions? how might obama's actions today, in re honduras, foreshadow his actions in re his own succession in 2012? bienvenidos to the 3rd world, muchachos! near as i can tell, the only difference now between us and a banana republic is that banana republics have lower taxes.
October 31, 2009, 6:31 amccofer:
Whats to understand? The guy is a smelly little scumbag communist. Everything he does makes sense once you understand which side he's on. This little bucktoothed chipmunk is still pissed because his team lost the cold war.
May he rot.
October 31, 2009, 11:44 amCraig:
I would dispense with some of the extreme theories in the rest of these comments. Obama's big foreign policy desire is to get people to like the US. By taking a stand against this "coup" he looked to curry favor in South America (what good the favor of Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina is, I don't know). Problem is, this wasn't a coup, and it took Obama a long time to realize this. I suspect he knows he went off half-cocked, and would like to get through this without having to admit it.
October 31, 2009, 7:27 pmPeter:
Obama is just practicing on other countries constitution before he destroys the remnants of ours. Soon you'll be a racist if you don't vote for his third term.
November 1, 2009, 8:17 pm