PrintJuly 7, 2009
Obama explains why he backs Chavista thug Zelaya
This is just about what we'd expect from a college student elevated to running the presidency.
Here's Obama's explanation for why we want to reinstall a Chavez stooge in Honduras, as reported nicely by ABC's Jake Tapper:
"America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies," the president told graduate students at the commencement ceremony of Moscow's New Economic School. "We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not. "
The president's remarks came in the midst of a speech in which discussed "America's interest in democratic governments that protect the rights of their people" and supported Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's call for judicial reforms in his country.
How noble! How brave!
How utterly foolhardy and ridiculous.
Tapper, one of the few journos who "gets it" with regard to the situation in Honduras, shows why Obama needs to grow up:
The military removal of Zelaya as president - and the appointment of Roberto Micheletti as interim President by the Honduran legislature - came after Zelaya attempted to rewrite his nation's constitution to end term limits to continue his rule, despite the fact that term limits in the constitution is one of eight "firm articles" that cannot be changed.
After the Honduran Legislature refused to call a constitutional convention to rewrite the constitution, Zelaya called for a referendum to do so, which the Honduran Supreme Court and Attorney General declared unconstitutional. Zelaya, allied with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez , fired top military commander Romeo Vásquez Velásquez for refusing to carry out the referendum. Every branch of government sided against Zelaya and Congress began discussing impeachment proceedings. Acting on orders from the Honduran Supreme Court, soldiers arrested Zelaya on June 28 and sent him into exile in Costa Rica.
That is the reality of the situation. Obama has taken the stand that Zelaya was elected. He has since been impeached which begs the question of why Obama is selectively applying a standard to Zelaya that is no longer relevant?
Instead of being noble and practicing self abnegation when it comes to US interests, why can't Obama do what we elected him to do and stand up for those interests instead of denying them out of some stupid, naive, notion where he believes we are going to be applauded for shooting ourselves in the foot?
Bragging about acting contrary to your nation's interests will no doubt be met with approval by the world's leftists. In the meantime, a perfectly legitimate change of government has occurred that bolsters US interests and Obama is fighting it, putting himself on the same side as the Castros, Danny Ortega, and Hugo Chavez.
Pretty good for a college kid. Disaster for a US president.
