In rare praise, U.S. calls Venezuelan presidential referendum democratic
WASHINGTON — The United States says the referendum that cleared the way for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election was democratic.
It was rare praise for a U.S. antagonist after years of criticism.
State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid today noted "troubling reports of
intimidation."But he added that for the most part, the referendum was "fully consistent with democratic process."
Was it? Was it really? Oh it must be, because Russia news and information agency RIA NOVOSTI had this to say in it's commentary about the next steps:
MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - President Hugo Chavez is expected to sign into law on Thursday an amendment to Venezuela's constitution removing term limits for the head of state and other elected officials.
The central elections committee released the official results of Sunday's referendum
on Wednesday and passed them to Venezuela's National Assembly. The parliament
will review the results and pass them to the president to be signed into law. The amendment changes the wording of the country's constitution from "the president may be reelected only once" to simply "the president may be reelected."Some 11.7 million people cast ballots out of the 17 million eligible to vote. The referendum was passed with 6.3 million for (54.86%) and 5.2 million against 45.13%). International observers and the U.S. State Department have confirmed that the voting process met international democratic standards.
(emphasis added)
It seems that the Obama administration is either turning a blind eye towards the truth in the spirit of "can't we all just get along?" (the Rodney King school of diplomacy), or it's happy with a socialist victory (let's hope that isn't the case), or else as I suspect is the case, they are simply out of touch with the reality of what is confronting them.
Obama is interested in improving the American image around the world, and the approach he is taking is similar to his laissez-faire attitude with Chicago-style corruption within the Democratic party. DON'T ROCK THE BOAT, BABY!
The people of Venezuela are being taken for a ride and it's the type of ride where the body gets dumped out of the trunk into the river or a shallow grave. But for the present administration, it seems that making nice with the Chavez junta is more important. There's no back bone there and more importantly, there's no payoff. What's the point in being friendly with this guy?
1. Obama, you are the new face of Satan as far as he's concerned. He's not likely to be friendly back anyway.
2. Even if you befriend him, what does it do for America? You want to reduce dependence on OPEC oil anyway, so why does he matter? [That's rhetorical, I'm pretty sure he doesn't matter to you much].
3. Befriending him is a short term gain at BEST, since after a while (perhaps after a decade or two more in power) he will be seen as the corrupt politician in America's pocket and the people of Venezuela will harbor no more good will towards America than they now have.
4. Being friends with socialists betrays the spirit of America - the spirit of rugged individualism that made America great.
Out of touch. Short sighted. Moving in the wrong direction. Example 34C of a growing list of shortcomings that prove the real Messiah was never up for election in 2008.
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