Who knew that Barack Obama would become the Teddy Roosevelt of the 21st Century? Like Teddy, Barack is wielding that big stick in Latin America. Teddy wielded it against repressive regimes and for the interests of the United States. Unfortunately, Barack is using it in exactly the opposite direction. We've discussed Obama's support of power-grabbers in Honduras in the past on this site. We thought it was over. We were wrong.
The Obamists and their socialist cohorts decided last year that Honduras could not exercise its sovereign power to protect its own constitution because it would result in ousting the next banana republic president-for-life and insult his good friend, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Manuel Zelaya violated the clear terms of the Honduran constitution by attempting to change the voting and election rules during his term of office. The Honduran legislature and the Honduran supreme court exercised their powers under that constitution to remove Zelaya from office. Fellow socialist Barack Obama ordered the State Department to go into high gear and mend Honduras's constitutional ways by reinstating the wannabe future dictator.
Honduras ducked Obama's big stick and proceeded with its originally-scheduled exercise of constitutional sovereignty, installed an interim president according to the rule of law, and expelled Zelaya. Despite Zelaya hiding out in the Brazilian embassy (imagining Israeli plots to kill him by using poison gas from an invisible Israeli encampment outside the Brazilian embassy) and Hugo Chavez threatening Honduras with his nonexistent Venezuelan air force, the Hondurans stood their ground.
So the American messiah sent teams of fellow leftists from the State Department to work out a compromise which would have reinstalled Zelaya pending the next election. Since Zelaya, like his friend Chavez, believes in the rule of banana republic democracy--one man, one vote, one time--the Hondurans refused to cooperate or be bullied by a president from the north who doesn't even understand his own Constitution, let alone Honduras's. Obama and his leftist friends were publicly humiliated, and bullies don't like to be humiliated. The elections went forward, violence was minimal, the people made their constitutional choice, and for once, Obama's support of a leftist dictator went straight to hell.
But bullies don't give up easily. After being beaten fair and square, they sneak off, plot, nurse their grievances, and decide on a plan to gain the upper hand. Obama is no exception. It has now been four months since the Honduran elections, and the Honduran people are perfectly happy with their choices. But the Obamabully is determined to destabilize Honduras, and put the leftist Zelaya back in power from his exile in the Dominican Republic. It's a two-prong attack.
First, there are the subversive activities of Obama's senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the National Security Council, Dan Restrepo. He is actively attempting to undermine the current constitutional government of Honduras. He has made the sovereign power of a constitutional republic the target for Obama propaganda. During the attempt to force Hondurans to accept a compromise that violated both the Honduran constitution and the sovereign rights of Honduras, Restrepo said: "The Republicans were using the administration's support for Zelaya, (an ally of Venezuelan Hugo Chavez) against the Democrats. It's not going to work because we [the Democrats] have the power and would be keeping it for a long time." In other words, the need to retain Democrat power in the US outweighed any interest Honduras itself might have in conducting a sovereign and constitutional republican form of government.
Restrepo's ally in place is US ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens. Llorens has been agitating in the Honduran capital for the ongoing US demand that Zelaya be allowed to return. He has been in constant contact with the Honduran opposition (which does not necessarily support Zelaya either) to get them to convince the majority of the Honduran Congress (a unicameral legislature) to order a new election and call Zelaya back to Honduras (another purely illegal act under the Honduran constitution). It's a nefarious plot by the two Obamists. They know it's unlikely that they could ever convince the legislature to do anything so lawless and contrary to the will of the Honduran people, but it could accomplish the secondary goal--to destabilize the current Honduran government.
Llorens is so blatant in his attempts that many Hondurans have now dubbed him "Obama's proconsul in Honduras." Restrepo, equally blatant, inept and obnoxious has irritated even many of the moderate-leftist members of the Organization of American States. Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva would like to see Obama and Chavez succeed in destabilizing the Honduran government, but even he has doubts about Restrepo's high-handedness.
On the home front, Obama's State Department early on in the bullying pulled the visas of dozens of pro-constitution supporters of the Honduran legislature and supreme court. Later, the administration started pulling the visas of Honduran businessmen who were largely apolitical, but refused to support the US position on restoring Zelaya to power. Since the Honduran election, the war of attrition has gone on. The day before the new Honduran president, Porfirio Lobo, was inaugurated, the State Department pulled the visas of somewhere between fifty and sixty diplomats who had merely suffered the misfortune of being appointed by interim Honduran president Micheletti.
Restrepo (and quite possibly Llorens) was involved directly in meetings with the Zelayistas who had attempted to overthrow the interim Micheletti administration as head of the winning party. If they could weaken his hold on what was becoming the majority party, he could weaken the party itself, and possibly bring in a pro-Zelaya coalition in its place. That also didn't work. But it did produce a small victory for the wounded Obamists. New president Lobo has indicated (not verified) to Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes that he (Lobo) would allow Zelaya to return in exchange for reinstituted US foreign aid. This allegedly occurred when Lobo met behind closed doors with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
There's the destabilization at work. Bribe a country that needs US aid, and get a newly-elected and inexperienced chief executive to cave in without consulting the important members of his own party. The result is that the Honduran state minister of security has declared publicly that if Zelaya returns against the wishes of the legislature and the supreme court, he will be arrested. Divide and conquer.
Obama's ultimate hope is that he can achieve so much dissension in Honduras that the current administration will be unable to accomplish anything. At the same time it stirs up the notoriously violent and oppressive Zelayistas. If the plan is successful, the Zelayistas can pull whatever destablizing shenanigans they choose, get the support they need from Obama and Chavez, and bring the Zelayistas back into power somewhat constitutionally at the next regular election. And that would put yet another leftist wannabe president for life back on the road to permanent power.
Obama sees the American Constitution as a troublesome document that gets in the way of his fundamentally transforming the nation. It would be both sad and ironic if a small nation in Latin American ended up defying Obama and proving that the form of constitutional government and the rule of law put together by the American Founding Fathers can exist somewhere, even if it isn't in Obama's America.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Obama Wields Big Stick--Backwards
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16 comments:
At the risk of causing an intranational incident, I am going to quote a troublesome subversive.
"I hope he fails."
LawHawk,
Just who does Obama think he is?
Joel: Thanks. Now I can't get the song "Mr. Big Shot" out of my head. LOL
More than anyone, Hawk, you dig out these horror stories that nobody else reports which is what Dan "what's the frequency, Kenneth?" Rather claims he does. The main difference is that Rather is the biggest asshat in the history of television journalism while you, retired jourist and sometime blogger, are on the side of the angels:-)
Seriously, as upsetting as these stories are, I'm glad you are telling them.
Tennessee: Thanks a bunch. Andrew and I try our best to ferret out those facets of the news that others miss or de-emphasize because it doesn't serve their agendas. Something about this whole Honduran debacle seemed to rankle both of us more than the obvious stories of playing footsie with Chavez or bowing to foreign potentates.
As long as readers like you enjoy them and feel a bit edified by them, we'll keep doing them.
Jed, It's even worse than you think. We've got tons of stories we could talk about, which no one else covers, but we just don't have the time to write them all! I'm doing one tomorrow night about CNN's ratings, which is something I've been following for a month now, but never got a chance to write about. The other day, I saw my first MSM story about this. Imagine if we had Dan Rather's resources! Then you guys could come here for all of your news and you'd be weeks ahead of everyone else!
On Honduras, I think it's too little too late for Obama. And when the Republicans take over Congress, all bets are off in Team Obama's foreign policy tinkers. I also see him throwing his people under the bus when that happens because he truly doesn't care at all about what happens beyond our borders.
Andrew: The Hondurans seem to be standing their ground so far, but continue to chip away at the leaders long enough, and the results might not be so sure. Obama doesn't like being questioned, and he's already proven himself to be a vengeful, small man.
That said, I think you're probably right about Honduras. My main concern is that we are expending so much time, money, diplomatic personnel, and American prestige on undermining our natural allies that we have no genuine resources, particularly diplomatic credit, left for helping our natural allies and thwarting our enemies.
barack hussein obama and his toadies have exported tactics from the Alinsky handbook to Honduras (to the never ending shame of the USA).
And likewise, they have to work very hard to insure that the Republicans don't take over a house of Congress where they can initiate investigations of their own. The Mainstream Media (some call it the state-run media) have completely sold out to the socialists and their program to nationalize enough and marginalize what they can't nationalize -- so that people will vote and retain them in office due to financial fears if those parasites are removed.
When you put enough people on the dole with borrowed money, their future is threatened by Constitutionalists who promote responsibility and accountability in government spending.
LawHawk,
I think that's the whole idea. Systematically destroy each and every natural ally to a free and independent United States. At the same time court and flatter each and every natural enemy to a free and independent United States.
Obama is a petty dictator. All dictators are naturally petty. They use that pettiness to hide a larger problem. The systematic destruction of the natural strengths against tyranny.
LL: I think my reply disappeared, so I'll sum it up assuming that it will show up eventually.
The MSM worries me less by the day. They preach to the converted. Most thinking people watch what the media says, then either question it, or simply figure that whatever they're seeing and being told, the opposite is probably true.
I am far more concerned about Obama's back-room diplomacy. Kissing Chavez's behind gets news coverage (much of it negative), but quietly attempting to undermine a government that opposes Chavez close to Hugo's home turf is both dangerous and sneaky.
As for the welfare class, they've been a danger since the days of the constitutional convention. Many of the Founders worried about the dependence on government when people discover they can get their representatives in the House to "vote them largess from the public treasury." Our job is to make absolutely clear that such dependence ultimately impoverishes the middle class, and further impoverishes those who are already poor. Political fixes are like heroin fixes. They feel good for awhile, but in a short period of time, the addict will want more, and if possible, he wants someone else to pay for it, one way or another.
Joel: We haven't entirely surrendered the Constitution or American freedom yet. And I don't think we ever will. Obama is more a half-assed wannabe dictator who will never have the cojones to stand up to a Republican Congress and the American people. "Bully" describes him better, and like most bullies, he'll go sniveling into obscurity when his threats no longer work.
He'll just spend the rest of his miserable life writing fictional autobiographies of himself and how he was done in by racists and fascists who weren't smart enough to understand his lofty agenda. And of course there's always the competition with Carter for the title of worst ex-president, and trying to remember how to walk on water.
Great read Lawhawk! I’d forgotten about Honduras, but it doesn’t surprise me that Barry’s minions keep doing what they do, agitate for change…vomit! It would seem that the Hondurans have made a clear choice that can withstand a meddlesome USA diplomatic corps whose fearless leader doesn’t have a clue…Barry!
Thanks for the update!
StanH: One thing you can count on with bullies and cowards--they never forget a humiliation. But unlike real civilized adults, they plot their revenge by sneaking in through the back door and sabotaging the brave. The Honduran sabotage will stop only when Obama and his entire socialist administration are gone from D.C.
Congress can do a lot about funding and de-funding, but unless Obama tries to negotiate a treaty with the Honduran opposition, there's little they can about Obama's sneaky maneuvering.
This article is just one small attempt to keep his craven backstabbing in the public eye--lest we forget.
Fascinating and disturbing stuff, LawHawk. When Obama was first campaigning, my impression of him was that he was lazy, arrogant, completely unqualified, and massively over hyped, but not without a certain charm.
I've had to modify my understanding of him to include vindictiveness and pettiness. His "charm" has turned out to be just a manifestation of his towering ego, so when he claims he's not the Messiah, he's just Superman, he really means it.
His laziness is interesting, though. He has spent his entire life claiming the accomplishments of others as his own (based on the impressions of those around him during his law "career", teaching "career", and state senate "career"). He loves to delegate while he sees to the important business of putting his feet up on the Oval Office's desk for the White House photographer.
But the way he delegates his grotesque agenda to his underlings is bizarre. I get the impression that he thinks of himself as the "big picture guy", so he'll make a blanket pronouncement like "Let's fix the economy!" When asked what he might have in mind to accomplish this, Obama would say, "That's your job."
In this environment, I would guess that his administration consists of three basic types of people. 1) There are the radicals, who know they can use their position to implement whatever insanity they so chose, and will claim the full support of the President because he can't be bothered to care one way or the other. 2) There are the feet draggers, who will assure Obama that they are implementing his strategy while not actually doing anything, because they know he lacks the ability to evaluate any actual results since he's never been held accountable for anything himself. 3) There are the manipulators, who know that it just takes a stroke or two of Obama's ego to get him to embrace and promote their agenda as his own.
I doubt his administration has much room for any honest staff, though. If they brought back news that his "Fix the economy!" pronouncement wasn't working because of his proposed massive tax increases, threats against businesses, efforts to steal private 401ks for the government, etc., he would be petty and vindictive enough to throw that person under the bus. Never in a million years would he re-evaluate any other parts of his administration's agenda, because that would take effort and it's not his job.
I just hope the United States and the world can wait out this administration without being utterly destroyed by it.
wahsatchmo: That's a pretty darned good description of Obama and his gang, to say the least. I've encountered a few of these slick snake-oil salesmen in my time, but none who had risen to the very top like Obama. And I've never met one who had quite the perfect combination of laziness, arrogance and sense of entitlement of Obama.
If I had much use for psychologists, I'd expect them to be producing volumes on the pathology of this, the ultimate narcissistic personality. Instead, I'll just settle for the simple explanation that he has a hole in his soul.
LawhawkSF
No disrespect to wahsatchmo as I think he made poignant points but I am thinking that the better description of Barack Obama may be Sybil. Exactly how many ex presidents does Obama channel. I mean he's Reagon, JKF, FDR, Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and now he is Teddy Roosevelt.
Did he hire the same medium that allowed Hillary Clinton to talk to Eleanor Roosevelt's ghost.
What gives!!!!
As to the Honduras situation I am disgusted. After listening to these democrat @$$h@ts lecture us all on the Republicans evil foreign policy they go in and do exactly what they were accusing us of.....hypocrits all!
Individualist: I think you and wahsatchmo are both doing a good job of describing Obama. He's everything to everyone. He probably also fits the personality of the Greek God Proteus, who could change shape instantly to match the needs of his surroundings.
It's OK to say asshat (isn't it, Andrew?). We try to keep obscenity out of our posts and comments, but a covering for the behind is not the same thing as the body part. LOL
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