Venezuela and the United States have long been at odds, in large part because of President Hugo Chavez’s leftist leanings, and his willingness to cozy up to the enemies of the United States.
I’ve been following Mr. Chavez’s career with interest since he came to power on the tide of a populist campaign that saw him overthrow a corrupt regime. He promised to lift Venezuela–home to the third large oil reserves in the world, on the one hand, and one of the largest disparities between rich and poor on the other–out of poverty. The future seemed bright, and I remember thinking that, finally, some real change was coming to that part of Latin America.
Things didn’t exactly turn out that way. Chavez has rewritten the constitution several times, in effect making himself President-For-Life. He’s fallen into the pattern of the typical Latin American strongman that we’ve all unfortunately become familiar with.
The Bush administration refused to deal with dictators like Chavez, and this prompted him to refer to President Bush as the devil whose “sulfurous stink” refused to leave the room a day later.
Now, Obama has been photographed shaking the hand of this Latin American dictator, which has generated much hand-wringing from Republican camps.
The Republicans, predictably have confused open dialog with weakness. They claim that when Obama shake a dictator’s hand he gives them an opportunity to stab him in the back. They’ve failed to learn from the situation in China, where contact with the US has dramatically changed things, lifting that nation out of poverty and turning it into an economic dynamo. Wired Magazine once published an article called “Disney, Invader” claiming that the influx of American culture has done more for Human Rights than any military force in history, and I believe them.
The way you show a country how they should be governed is by example, not by shutting them out. If China has taught us anything, it is this.
Obama is taking the long view, and he should be applauded for doing so.
