Reply #25: Well, a few things:

[beachmom]

First of all, let's be clear that Hugo Chavez is very, very bad. I know from a friend who was in Central America (not Honduras) that Chavez has been heavily involved in getting his "friends" elected all over Latin America. I don't know about Zelaya, but definitely Ortega in Nicaragua. Basically, Chavez would bribe mayors and so forth with oil money (obviously, with oil prices down, that is not as possible now). I do not care for socialism (as in REAL socialism where whole industries are nationalized), but that is not of my concern if another country decides to do it as Chavez has. What is a concern to me is his anti-democratic tendencies and his bullying of media outlets in Venezuela. And the fact that he is an egomaniac who seems to be intent on building some kind of anti-American alliance throughout Latin America.

Zelaya was certainly supported by Chavez, and Zelaya himself did seem to be making moves that emulated Chavez, like getting the Constitution changed so that he could run for another term. Now apparently according to Al Giordano it was legal, but even if it was illegal, there is something called "Impeachment" that could have dealt with it. All legal and above board. Instead, Honduras had a military coup, which is absolutely unacceptable.

Here is my view of the Right and the old crowd who backed Reagan's policies in Central America in the '80s: they don't give a damn about democracy. What they care about is capitalism. It's all about M-O-N-E-Y for them. If Chavez was pulling all the stuff he was pulling, but instead of being a socialist he was an ubercapitalist, none of these characters on the Right would have a problem with him. All the arguments they use against Chavez are cynical. After all, I saw Jeb Bush PRAISE Colombia, a government that murdered union leaders, as a government that needs to be supported. Yeah, because Colombia is doing business with all of Jeb's pals, that is why he loves them so much.

All of these dynamics have complicated the job for Obama. Because he is between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, is the lefty Chavez who is bad news and all his benefactors across Latin America. And on the other is the hard Right both in Latin America and the States who want military coups to solve the Chavez problem. Latin America is very poor, and socialist policies tend to at least at first help the poor. So the right wingers shouldn't be surprised that a lot of these people actually end up being elected.