by Bill O'Connell on July 26, 2009
Chavez, Castro, et al, were cheering on their protege, Manuel Zalaya to make himself president for life and impose their same style of dictatorship on the people of Honduras. Zalaya is term limited, but tried to push through a referendum to amend the constitution to lift that restriction. That is against the law in Honduras.
Zalaya had his minions break into a facility that held the confiscated referendum ballots. The Honduran Supreme Court declared that he had broken the law, the military captured Zalaya and sent him out of the country. The cry throughout the region was that this was a coup removing Zalaya, but no one is saying where the Honduran Congress or Supreme Court did not follow their own laws, and show that Zalaya was not violating the same.
To Meddle or Not To Meddle?
The Obama administration was oddly silent when democracy was trying to break out in Iran, but spoke out against the laws being followed in Honduras. Now as Zalaya plays provocative games on the border, it appears the Obama administration is negotiating with the Honduran military for the return of Zalaya to power:
The communiqué was drafted in Washington after days of talks between mid-level Honduran officers and American Congressional aides. — NY Times, July 26, 2009
The communique it appears, indicates that the military would not stand in the way of Zalaya’s return. Is this not meddling? Left wing forces in the regions are trying to create another dictatorship like Venezuela and Cuba, the laws in Honduras are followed that prevent this, and the Obama administration weighs in on the side of the leftists.
There may not be a coup in Honduras, but we may be backing a socialist revolution. We have come a long way from Ronald Reagan winning the Cold War and freeing Eastern Europe.
by Bill O'Connell on July 13, 2009
It now appears that both sides in the Honduran standoff are waiting on the United States to weigh in. Despite those on the left (Chavez, Castro) continuing to push for less involvement by the U.S. in Central and South America so they can step into the void, they are now calling on the United States to take a stand, on their respective sides, of course. Chavez had this to say:
“Do something,” Mr. Chávez had said to reporters. “Obama, do something.” – NY Times, July 12, 2009
Hillary Clinton has joined with Castro and Chavez in calling for the return to power of Manuel Zalaya. But as Mary Anastasia O’Grady reports in today’s Wall Street Journal:
“If there is anything debatable about the crisis it is the question of whether the government can defend the expulsion of the president. In fact it had good reasons for that move and they are worth Mrs. Clinton’s attention if she is interested in defending democracy.”
There’s the rub, if she’s interested. It seems that the Obama administration has an aversion to democracy, once they get in office. When polls in the U.S. show that 68% of the people believe a second stimulus is coming while 60% oppose a second stimulus, that tells you something about their feelings about democracy. Their silence on Iran and their speaking out on Zalaya’s behalf, reinforces that belief. The Obama administration’s goal is to get power, and do whatever they can as quickly as they can to consolidate it. It seems like a page out of any tin pot dictator’s playbook. Chavez could have written it himself.
Now the Obama administration has gone silent on the situation in Honduras. Will they find their voice? Will it be the voice of our Founding Fathers, or Che, Hugo, and Fidel?
by Bill O'Connell on July 6, 2009
The press is sleepwalking. As I have been reading the press reports concerning the crisis in Honduras, I have been struck by the lack of interest by the press in the full picture. Other than Mary Anastasia O’Grady at the Wall Street Journal, no journalist seems to care about the facts in Honduras and whether this is truly a coup or following the rule of law and thwarting a dictatorial takeover of the government.
It seems like Honduras is lined up on one side and all the world on the other, and the uncontested facts on the ground tilt in Honduras’ favor. Castro, Chavez, and their leftist brethren, the OAS, and the Obama administration all seem to be backing the dictator wannabe Zalaya. It is quite a contrast to how the Obama administration dragged it’s feet in supporting Iran and now it is standing shoulder to shoulder with Hugo Chavez. And the main stream media lazily goes along.
With Fidel Castro at the end of his life perhaps some thought the leftest threat to the hemisphere coming to a close. However there is a new threat in Hugo Chavez. The difference is that Castro’s Cuba was a ward of the Soviet Union and once they could no longer afford to support him, Castro’s relevance began to wane. But Chavez has oil and does not need handouts and so is much more dangerous.
“This is a moment when the U.S. ought to be on the side of the rule of law, which the Honduran court and Congress upheld. If Washington does not reverse course, it will be one more act of appeasement toward an ambitious and increasingly dangerous dictator.” – O’Grady, WSJ, 07/06/2009
The World is Watching
The world is watching and taking the measure of Obama, and when push comes to shove they will choose where their best interests lie. If we will not stand behind democracy in our hemisphere, then other countries will try to cut the best deal they can with Chavez. North Korea gets bolder by the day. Iran kills its citizens and Obama wants to keep the door open to dialog. Weakness abounds and everyone can see it.
by Bill O'Connell on July 1, 2009
Brothers in Arms
When I first heard the news of a “coup d’etat” in Honduras I thought, “This isn’t good.” America cannot be a champion of democracy if we only support democracies where we like the outcome. Recall the coup in Venezuela that ousted Hugo Chavez for a couple of days, and we got behind it. But he was elected and to avoid being hypocrites we have to support the process.
Not So Fast
As more news came out about exactly what happened in Honduras, it became clearer that the military was following the democratic process not subverting it. The bad news is that while President Obama kept silent or tepid at best regarding Iran, he came out forcefully on the side of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez condemning the military’s action in Honduras.
Here is a rundown on what is going on in Honduras as reported in the Wall Street Journal on June 29 and June 30:
- Honduran President Manuel Zalaya is term limited. He wanted to put a referendum on the ballot to change the constitution and lift the limits on his term so that he could be re-elected.
- While Honduran law allows for a re-write of the constitution the power to do that does not lie with the president but with its Congress.
- Zalaya declared the vote on his own and got the ballots to distribute from Hugo Chavez in Venezuela
- The Honduran Supreme Court ruled that the referendum was illegal because such referendums are forbidden by the constitution within six months of an election.
- The military followed the Supreme Court ruling and refused to distribute the ballots which is its usual role
- Zalaya fired the chief of the army and planned to proceed with the referendum against the Supreme Court ruling
- The Supreme Court ordered the general be reinstated, Zalaya refused
- The Honduran Attorney General and the Supreme Court said Mr. Zalaya would be prosecuted if he followed through
- Zalaya decided to proceed. Supporters broke into where the ballots were being held and distributed them against the Supreme Court order
- Zalaya was arrested and is in exile in Costa Rica
- The Honduran Congress met in emergency session and named the President of Congress as the interim president of the country. They further stated that the elections would proceed on schedule in November. The military was no longer in control. The Supreme Court said the military acted on its orders
A Disturbing Pattern
Maybe it’s just me, but I see a disturbing pattern here. In Iran where democracy is being clearly trashed, President Obama was extraordinarily restrained in criticizing the mullahs, while they shot their people in cold blood for exercising free speech and free assembly. In Honduras, the government is carefully following the rule of law and its constitution while its president tries turn it into a dictatorship along the lines of Venezuela, and they are roundly condemned by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton. President Obama lines up with Ahminedinjad, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, and against democracy.
Here at home he is orchestrating a massive expansion of government power and intrusion into every last detail of our lives. Our liberty to live our lives as we choose is draining away. I’m concerned. Are you?
I’ll see you at the Tea Party tonight in New York.
by Bill O'Connell on February 13, 2009
As I have said before experience matters. President Obama’s lack of executive experience is compounded by the team he has assembled. To quote the New York Times the Obama administration has a “West Wing filled with more alumni of the House and Senate than any recent administration.” That pretty much tells the tale. While lacking executive experience, Obama loaded up the administration with legislative alumni, rather than executives.
Perhaps his goal was to streamline the ability to get measures passed, but there is a reason the founders created separate branches of government with different responsibilities. When we most need an experienced steady hand on the tiller, we are verging on chaos. It’s not good.
by Bill O'Connell on January 12, 2009
A week from tomorrow, at noon, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. At the same moment, George W. Bush will become private citizen Bush, in another peaceful transition in government that is the envy of the world.
Today, President Bush held his last news conference and at it he said that when his term ends next week he will get off the stage, which creates an interesting dilemma. What will the main stream media do now?
For the past two years their view of fair and balanced is to bash Bush, fair, and praise Obama, balanced. No matter what the topic of the day, they always had Bush dressed and ready as the villain. Any serious writer can tell you that for a good story you need conflict. Who will be the new villain? Sure, they’ll still be firing away at Bush as he rides off into the sunset, but eventually he will dip below the horizon, and they will have to find a new target.
I can’t imagine the White House press corps at a press conference just pitching softball after softball to Obama to hit out of the park. The news outside the building will be real and it will not always be sunny. You will have members of Congress who will try to hold hearings to round up anyone who ever served in the Bush administration and try to throw them in jail, but I don’t think Obama has the stomach for it. He has more important things to tend to.
The press has built the expectations for Obama so high, I truly feel sorry for the guy. I think with his speech on the economy and that it will be a long hard slog, is at least partially an attempt to lower those expectations, but I believe the damage has been done. The Democrats now hold both houses of Congress and the White House, who can they blame if they don’t start delivering on their promises and get the economy going again? And how is the press going to handle it?
As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. There is also an old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” It will be very interesting.
by Bill O'Connell on November 11, 2008
Well it’s been a week since Barack Obama has been elected the next President of the United States, so a decent interval has passed for him and his family to enjoy the moment. It’s time to resume the watch to observe in which direction he will lead us. Here is what we observed in week 1:
- Appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff – Emanuel is known as a partisan with sharp elbows and a take-no-prisoners style. On the one hand it can be viewed as the first step in finishing off the opposition. On the other hand, he may be spending more of his time protecting Obama from Congress and all the far left groups who are holding his IOUs. So the jury is still out on this one.
- Dow Jones Industrial Average — Down 765 points. The Dow which is considered a leading indicator is down about 8% in five days, not exactly a vote of confidence in the hope and change heading our way.
- Private meeting with President Bush today — After the meeting which was between Barack Obama and the President with no staff attending, it wasn’t long before the essence of what was discussed was in the newspapers. Tradition has it that private presidential conversations are, well, private. Bush was angry about the leaks. Let’s see, private meeting, Bush and Obama, word leaks to the press, Bush is angry. I’ll go out on a limb here and put my money on it was Obama who leaked the information. Well that didn’t take long. What else can he be trusted with?
- Obama pushes Bush to implement another stimulus package immediately and to help out GM and Chrysler. Why would he do that? Here’s a hypothesis, if Bush acts before Obama takes office, and it goes well, Obama can take credit for it by either saying that the recovery took place on his watch or that he prodded Bush to act. If it goes south and the taxpayers are stuck holding the bag on yet another socialist grab, well Obama can do what he campaigned on, blaming Bush. If nothing happens until he takes office, he will have to make the decision and bear the responsibility. Remember what happened with the $700 billion bailout package, Obama stayed as far away as he could.
- Obama’s transition team is talking about rescinding some of Bush’s executive orders, including one that allowed more drilling for oil. So with overwhelming support for “Drill here, Drill now”, Obama immediately wants to reverse course and drill less. This should help drive the price of gasoline back up again. But wait, this just in, his advisors are saying a decision hasn’t been reached yet.
Stay tuned…
by Bill O'Connell on October 29, 2008
We have been led to believe that America needs Barack Obama to “repair” our reputation in Europe and the rest of the world. In France, of all places, it doesn’t look like he’s off to a great start. Although French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has tried to talk about it only in private, he has characterized Obama’s stance on Iran, “Utterly Immature.” Joe Biden, call your office, I think you can add another crisis to your radar screen.
