Those whom Obama favors and disfavors seem to form a pattern
Mary Anastasia O’Grady in the WSJ comments on the arrest of the Honduran President at the order of that country’s Supreme Court, an event called a “coup” by many in the media and politics, including Barack Obama and the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba:
Hugo Chávez’s coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation’s constitution. It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking.
But Honduras is not out of the Venezuelan woods yet. Yesterday the Central American country was being pressured to restore the authoritarian Mr. Zelaya by the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Hillary Clinton and, of course, Hugo himself. The Organization of American States, having ignored Mr. Zelaya’s abuses, also wants him back in power. It will be a miracle if Honduran patriots can hold their ground.
That Mr. Zelaya acted as if he were above the law, there is no doubt. While Honduran law allows for a constitutional rewrite, the power to open that door does not lie with the president. A constituent assembly can only be called through a national referendum approved by its Congress.
But Mr. Zelaya declared the vote on his own and had Mr. Chávez ship him the necessary ballots from Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do.
It should be noted that President Obama, who had little to say in the early days of Iran’s turmoils (and much of that was inappropriate), found his voice immediately in this case.
Reuters: “Barack Obama said on Monday the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was illegal and would set a ‘terrible precedent’ of transition by military force unless it was reversed. ‘We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there,’ Obama told reporters.”
Obama’s initial gut reactions to the authoritarians and democrats of the world have become as predictible as they are disturbing.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
This is a very dangerous step for a leader to take. I am happy that the people of Honduras asserted their rights in this way. In this case I think the military was acting in the best interest of the people.
July 1st, 2009 at 5:17 am
Obama, Hillary, Chavez, Castro, the UN and other world “leaders” are clearly on the wrong side.
What the hell is going on?
The Wall Street Journal seems to have it right … yet Obama and Hillary are supporting the Chavez/Zelaya attempted “coup”.
Did U.S. PC cultists really elect the Manchurian candidate?
July 1st, 2009 at 6:07 pm
O’Grady has the facts right. I am an American living in honduras and Zelaya was trying to change the constitution by fraud. How can 80% of the Honduran population be wrong? We are living here and know the nightmares that this puppet of cuba and castro has been creating. I watched him give his speach to the United Nations and it is unbelivable how a person can lie with such conviction. It is a shame to allow such a dispicable to allow a person like that to talk to the world.
July 1st, 2009 at 6:16 pm
“I won” is hardly likely to endorse “he won” being removed from office for any reason. It’s self interest, nothing more.
TOTUS is in trouble. All the cheerleading media in the world are unable to compensate for the fact that the economy is getting worse, not better. The stimulus has done nothing but increase deficits to the point of making George W Bush look like a fiscal conservative. The misery index, and “are you better off today than you were four years ago” are sounding like powerful slogans again.