Sunday, April 19, 2009

Obama and Chavez: BFFs?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

President Obama met the Tyrant Chavez at the Summit of the Americas on Friday -- you know, because both men are leaders of countries in the Americas -- and, according to Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada, behaved irresponsibly by "laughing and joking" with him.

Now, I have been a consistent and persistent critic of Hugo Chavez. As a liberal, I am opposed to all forms of tyranny, whether of the left or of the right. I would rather not have Obama, or any Amerian president for that matter, making nice with, let alone seeming to be a close friend of, a tyrant like Chavez (and you can find my many posts about him here). For example, it would be inappropriate (to put it mildly) for Obama to invite, say, Kim Jong-il over to the White House for some bowling and movies.

But Obama didn't treat Chavez like a BFF, nor even like an ally, he just treated him like a fellow world leader. From what I can tell, which is probably just as much as Ensign can tell, the two men shook hands, smiled, and exchanged pleasantries -- and Chavez gave Obama an anti-American book (which is not the same as Obama agreeing with Chavez's anti-Americanism).

Were they "laughing and joking"? Well, perhaps Chavez saw his meet-and-greet with Obama as an opportunity to bond, but I highly doubt that Obama was being anything other than polite. Steve Benen puts it well:

Chances are, President Obama would like to improve relations with our adversaries, and shook Hugo Chavez's hand out of a sense of international diplomacy. The efforts appear to possibly be paying dividends -- Venezuela indicated yesterday that it is considering naming an ambassador to the United States.

To be sure, Chavez is an odious figure. But he's also the twice-elected head of state of a large South American country with 30 million people. GOP rhetoric notwithstanding, there's no downside to improving our relations with the country's leadership.

This may be difficult for Ensign to understand, but sometimes, U.S. presidents meet foreign leaders we're not fond of. Once in a while, U.S. presidents even negotiate with foreign leaders who are clearly our adversaries -- Kennedy talked to Khrushchev, Nixon talked to Mao, Reagan talked to Gorbachev.

Are we to believe it's scandalous for Obama to simply shake hands -- not negotiate, not strike any deals, not come to any agreements, just press the flesh -- with the Venezuelan president? That a simple handshake undermines the "prestige of the United States"?

Obviously, it doesn't. The U.S. is a strong enough country, and Obama is a strong enough leader, not to let a handshake mean anything more than a handshake. Indeed, to suggest that a handshake is enough to weaken "the prestige of the United States and the presidency of the United States," as Ensign did, is to suggest that America's prestige is nothing but a thin and vulnerable veneer, that America is in fact too weak to be able to withstand such niceties. Conservatives make the same argument in opposing diplomacy with Iran, but it is the complete opposite that is true: Talking to Tehran, like shaking hands with Chavez, is a sign of strength, and can be approached from a position of strength.

Obama didn't prostrate himself before Chavez, nor did the two make an expression of their undying love for one another. They just shook hands. Republicans may predictably try to score political points by making more of that than there was, but there really was nothing more to it than that.

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7 Comments:

  • Have you seen these pics?
    http://journals.democraticunderground.com/FrenchieCat/490

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:50 PM  

  • I hadn't, but thank you for the link. Great pics that put this whole "controversy" in perspective.

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 1:00 AM  

  • To quote myself: "Mr. Chavez was the one trying to horn in on getting his picture taken with Mr. Obama; that he was the one who was fawning over him, not the other way around.

    What surprises me is that Sen. Ensign and the Republicans don't see it that way. After all, they've spent the last eight years doing so much brown-nosing to a president that you'd think they'd know it when they see it."

    By Blogger Mustang Bobby, at 4:34 AM  

  • "the two men shook hands, smiled, and exchanged pleasantries -- and Chavez gave Obama an anti-American book (which is not the same as Obama agreeing with Chavez's anti-Americanism)."

    Have you ever read Eduardo Galaeno's Open Veins of Latin America?

    Typical establishment liberal and conservative hubris to dismiss it as an "anti-American book".

    By Blogger Sheldon, at 11:44 AM  

  • Gingrich was squawking about this this morning. The BS is transparent on this one. Their school of foreign policy boils down to making a show of not sitting at the same table with whomever in the junior high lunchroom.

    By Blogger Batocchio, at 1:23 PM  

  • For the record:
    Look up the phrase "Banana Republic" to see the US' storied past in South America. Yup, can't understand why so many of those folks might mistrust or despise us.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:15 PM  

  • lets see you had bush holding hands and playing kissy face with saudi's king abdula you had bush looking into the soul of putin you had daddy bus takeing money from both the house of saud and the bin laudin families so bush could fail at another buisness you had cheney begging the saudis to give us a break on saudi oil and they said take a hike....but obama shakes hands with chaves who by the way reduced the price of home heating oil from his country for low income ppl here in america so they wouldnt freeze to death hell exxon wouldnt even do that for its... own citzens... the rethugs are doing nothing but grasping at straws covered in elephant crap

    By Anonymous cwazycajun, at 8:51 AM  

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