The Caracas Way

Many's the time these past eight months that I've asked the question, "Whose side is Barack Obama on?" when it comes to American foreign policy.  The flip answer, of course, is "his own," except that I have never been able to fathom how his foreign policy stances - other than continuing parts of the Bush counter-terrorism policy while continuing to publicly abhor them - would be politically popular, be it giving his neoBolshevik base its anti-CIA inquisition or his bottomless pit of groveling at the feet of the Iranian mullahgarchy, both of which are highly likely to hasten and worsen an apocalyptic war in the Middle East.

Trying to bulldoze democratic (small "d") Honduras into the Cuba/Venezuela orbit isn't a political winner, either, but it could, if propelled by a sufficiently skillful spin (which this White House has yet to display), have some short-term "wag the dog" potential.  And heaven knows Barry needs a major league distraction from his health care "waterloo" in the very near future.

In that light, consider this to be the first down-payment on Operation Honduran Tyranny:

The OAS Foreign Ministers mission is in Honduras seeking support for the San Jose Accord, which would restore the democratic and constitutional order and resolve the political crisis in Honduras. In support of this mission and as a consequence of the de facto regime’s reluctance to sign the San Jose Accord, the U.S. Department of State is conducting a full review of our visa policy in Honduras. As part of that review, we are suspending non-emergency, non-immigrant visa services in the consular section of our embassy in Honduras, effective August 26. We firmly believe a negotiated solution is the appropriate way forward and the San Jose Accord is the best solution.

Let us recall the outline of the Hussein administration's confrontation with Tegucigalpa:

1) The former president, Manuel Zelaya, was prohibited by the Honduran constitution from seeking re-election;

2) Zelaya sought re-election anyway, in violation of Honduran law;

3) Per Honduran law, the Central American nation's supreme court ordered its military to arrest Zelaya and seize the ballots provided to him by none other than Venezuelan dictator "Uncle Hugo" Chavez himself;

4) Rather than hail the defense of democracy against the power grab of a Chavezian disciple by a staunch American regional ally, the Hussein administration called Zelaya's lawful ouster a "coup" and demanded his reinstatement - once again, in direct violation of Honduran law;

5) Tegucigalpa told Barry to go pound sand

6) The White House reacted by trying to "multilaterally" outflank the Hondurans by "organizing" the Organization of American States into bullying the latter into surrender by means of what came to be known as the San Jose Accord, which had as its centerpiece....the restoration of Manuel Zelaya to the presidency of Honduras that he forfeited by his illegal coup attempt;

7) The Honduran supremes told False Messiah AND the OAS to go pound some more sand.

You would think that whether the Obamunists are attempting to pander to their hard-left kook fringe supporters, or curry favor with Uncle Hugo, or pretend to sport a figurative penis (not unlike Bill Clinton's pointless 1994 adventure in Haiti), they would realize at some point that the downside is vastly overwhelming whatever upside there was to this numbnuttery.  The more effort they put into undermining Honduran democracy while calling it its opposite, the weaker and more weasely they look.

You would also reveal how little you've learned about Barack Obama, who is incapable of admitting grievous error even to himself, and whose natural instinct always has been and always will be to re-double his efforts and ride his stance straight into the cold, hard ground.

Lest the visa suspension be seen as just a puerile parting shot, Comrade Hussein's Foggy Bottomers doubled down, right on schedule:

U.S. State Department staff have recommended that the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya be declared a “military coup,” a U.S. official said on Thursday, a step that could cut off as much as $150 million in U.S. funding to the impoverished Central American nation.

The official, who spoke on condition he not be named, said State Department staff had made such a recommendation to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has yet to make a decision on the matter although one was likely soon…

Diplomats said that the United States had held off making the formal determination to give diplomacy a chance to yield a negotiated compromise that might allow for Zelaya’s return to power.

Such efforts, however, appear to have failed for now and so the United States is taking steps — including its decision on Tuesday to cease issuing some visas at its embassy in Tegucigalpa — to raise pressure on the de facto government.

Heh.  Right.  A "military coup" that expires in three months with the November 29th Honduran elections, after which a new president will be elected and the flimsy, rickety platform of The One's pro-Chavez water-carrying will vanish.

Teeth-gratingly, B.O.'s cowardly bullying did have some effect, though not nearly as much as he - or Zelaya - sought:

The interim president of Honduras has offered the man he replaced after a June coup the chance to return to the country on the condition that both renounce claims to the presidency, a negotiator said Thursday.

Arturo Corrales, a member of a three-man Honduran panel seeking an end to the standoff, told The Washington Times that Roberto Micheletti was willing to make the concessions to restore peace and prosperity to Honduras following the coup against Manuel Zelaya.

The offer represents a turnaround by Mr. Micheletti, who has insisted until now that Mr. Zelaya should have been arrested rather than deported to Costa Rica on June 28. Mr. Zelaya was deposed by the military after he sought to change the constitution to allow him to run for a second term.

None of this is about Roberto Micheletti, and it is an affront to genuine democrats (small "d") that he is having to accept moral equivalence with the man who tried to seize power illegally the same way that Uncle Hugo did in Venezuela a decade ago.  Worse, even allowing Zelaya back into the country is tantamount to facilitating a Chavez agent's infiltration as a [AHEM] "community organizer" for a pro-Chavista movement that could eventually overthrow Honduran democracy.  And frankly, I fail to see how the burden of proof of moral preponderance rests with Micheletti and Honduran democrats (including nearly all of his former political party, including Micheletti) and not the man who is the actual criminal in this equation.  Were I the interim Honduran president, I would have simply served out the remainder of of Zelaya's term and returned to my seat in parliament.  Zelaya and his "messianic" backers don't merit or deserve anything more.

The best face you can put on this offer is that it essentially calls Zelaya's - and Obama's - bluff.  It goes the extra mile to prove that Zelaya's removal was not a "military coup," provides him a chance to back down while saving some degree of face, and removes the pretext for Obamunist meddling in internal Honduran affairs.

The flaw in that rationalizing spin is that Micheletti's retirement won't be enough.  Zelaya doesn't want to return to his country for any less of a purpose than to take it over.  Whether his interim successor as president was the Hondurn parliamentary speaker or the next in line of constitutional succession behind him is irrelevant.  It's the system itself that Zelaya seeks to supplant with his own rule.  Which, in turn, makes the November 29th election irrelevant as well, as by what passes for the "logic" Red Barry is using, they'll be "tainted" by the "military coup" as well.

The more this clusterbleep escalates, the more radical and sheerly hairbrained Barack Obama looks.  He's into it so deep now that he practically has to invade Honduras with Manuel Zelaya at the head of the U.S. tank column that enters Tegulcigapa to supervise the manhunt that pulls Roberto Micheletti out of the proverbial spiderhole.

Sure, it sounds nuts.  But the L'il President's interference in Honduran politics itself has been nuts from day one.  Would Operation Honduran Tyranny really be that far-fetched?

UPDATE: No wonder Oscar Arias was Red Barry's top henchmen in the Manuel Zelaya restoration campaign.  Adds fuel to the speculation fire that the last of Uncle Hugo's Latin American dominoes stands in Obamerika itself, three years from now.