When I hear that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that President Obama has good intentions and that he has to help him succeed, I get chills running up my spine. Not the same kind of chills that ran up Chris Mathew’s leg either, I’m talking about the kind of chills that keep you up at night wondering what changes tomorrow will bring. This was all stated while in Venice the other day while Chavez attended the world premiere of “South of the Border,” a pro-Chavez, anti-America, anti-capitalism movie by controversial director Oliver Stone.
When you think about it, why wouldn’t Chavez want to befriend President Obama? They are in fact very much alike. Both are good speakers, charismatic but deceptive leaders with strong Marxists ethics that believe in absolute power, populism, big government, state run media, deceit; increased taxes for the perceived wealthy and are about destroying the existing order of their societies…this list could go on and on. It’s scary to think that President Obama could be so closely compared to a Communist Dictator.
I for one am not comfortable when leaders from countries that have had a history of hating America feel that they can be ‘chummy’ with my countries President and government. One minute they bash our nation and out values and the next they are praising Obama. It makes me wonder what they know, and what we don’t. Maybe its that they see that he is on a path to destroying America, giving them the opportunity to do things that they were unable to do because of our power and influence.
And to make things worse, our sworn enemies are increasingly becoming friendlier with each other as well. For example North Korea has warmed up to Iran, and both of those countries along with Russia have warmed up to Venezuela. Most recently Chavez sealed an agreement with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to export 20,000 barrels per day of gasoline to Iran. It would seem that they have realized that their “friendships” are useful in pressuring American Foreign policy issues, which has not been this administrations strong suit. Chavez has pledged to deepen ties with Iran and stand together against what he called the imperialist powers of the world. Gee I wonder who he is referring to when he says that.
Obama is now in a unique position, as he is first U.S. President to chair the 15-member U.N. Security Council. The main issues for the summit-level session of the council on September 24 are going to nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, both of which are presumably going to cause more issues with Korea and Iran. Will Obama weaken the U.S. foreign policy positions by negotiating with Ahmadinejad or Kim Jung-Il? Or will he take a hard lined approach to the issues at hand and do what is best for the United States and our E.U. allies? Considering how many times this administration has flip flopped on the issues, it’s really anyones guess.
© American Political Analysis