POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Calamity in Honduras; Obama bus backs over Zelaya…

The Obama Bus

So here's another, and perhaps the final, chapter in the Obama-drama in Honduras.  After essentially demanding that there be some kind of avenue by which Zelaya could be returned to power, contingent on a determination by the same governmental bodies that legally removed him from office over the summer, the State Department has signaled that it really might not matter if that occurs, and that the US will unconditionally recognize the, previously declared unrecognizable, Honduran elections scheduled for the end of this month.

The U.S. has repeatedly pressed for Zelaya's reinstatement. President Barack Obama was explicit in a speech this summer: "America supports now the restoration of the democratically elected President of Honduras."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Wednesday that the United States considers what happened in Honduras a coup and that Zelaya should be reinstated, but he said the focus now should be on implementing last week's deal between the ousted president's representatives and the interim government of Roberto Micheletti.

Hold on with all of that "coup" talk Ian.  Maybe that's what you and President Obama think, but the Congressional Research Service took a much different point of view in Spetember, finding that Zelaya was removed legally, in accordance with the Honduran Constitution.  And anyway, your pronouncement has been superceded by someone above your pay grade.

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya is asking the Obama Administration why, after pressing for his reinstatement, it now says it will recognize upcoming Honduran elections even if he isn't returned to power first.

In a letter sent to the U.S. State Department on Wednesday, Zelaya asked Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "to clarify to the Honduran people if the position condemning the coup d'etat has been changed or modified."

His request came after Washington's top envoy to Latin America, Thomas Shannon, told CNN en Espanol that Washington will recognize the Nov. 29 elections even if the Honduran Congress decides against returning Zelaya to power.

Clearly Zelaya hears the back-up alarm on the Obama bus beeping; my advice would be to move out of the way since far more intimate "allies" have ended up under that bus since Mr. Obama came on to the national scene.   This whole embarrassing sequence of events has proven to underscore just how amateurish the administrations idea of SMART POWER! is in actuality.  And not only that, but it reveals all of the highminded talk about "not meddling in the affairs of other nations" to be hollow blather-"Just Words!"; and, a convenient excuse to vote "present" during the Iranian post election uprisings instead of strongly supporting freedom as Reagan did vis-a-vis Poland in the 1980's.

Thank goodness, in the end, the US is standing behind the free choice of the Honduran people.  And Mr. Zelaya, enjoy your new office, along with the rest of the people that suddenly were "no longer the [insert name here] that I knew", under that bus!

Hugo Chavez could not be reached for comment...

(Graphic courtesy of radioactive liberty)

Rocketman