Obama Aligns with Left Wing Leaders

From the BBC, Chavez allies back ousted Zelaya:

Left-wing Latin American leaders have declared their support for Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in an army coup on Sunday.

At an urgent meeting in neighbouring Nicaragua, they declared Mr Zelaya to be the legitimate leader of Honduras.

And from the Huffington Post:

Obama said in a statement that he was "deeply concerned," and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Zelaya's arrest by the military should be condemned.

"I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Obama's statement read.

Perhaps The Clueless One Barack Hussein Obama should have someone translate the very clear language of the Honduran constitution before meddling in affairs that he does not understand:

The constitution, approved in 1982 as Honduras was throwing off two decades of nearly uninterrupted military rule, states that any politician who promotes presidential re-election will be barred from public service for 10 years.

Honduras Embroiled in Fight for Democracy

First, some facts:

1. The Honduran Constitution limits the presidential term to 4 years.
2. Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has seen his approval ratings plummet because of soaring food prices and worsening drug violence that has given Honduras one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America.
3. The Honduran Constitution prohibits changing the duration of the presidential term.
4. In defiance of the plain language of the constitution, President Zelaya asked for a referendum on placing the extension of the presidential term on the ballot.
5. The country’s Supreme Court, Honduras's top electoral tribunal, Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubí, and human-rights ombudsman have all declared the planned referendum illegal.
6. President Zelaya attempted to hold the vote anyway, ordering the military to distribute the ballots (which is their role) and sacking General Romeo Vasquez, head of the Honduran armed forces.
7. The military, acting on a court order, responded by capturing President Zelaya and flying him out of the country, thus ending his attempted power grab.

I often judge politicians by who their friends are. Among those condemning Honduras’ removal of President Zelaya are Cuba, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and of course Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But we shouldn’t blame Hillary – she’s only doing B. Hussein Obama’s bidding. It turns out that he has been working for weeks to save President Zelaya’s job:

The Obama administration and members of the Organization of American States had worked for weeks to try to avert any moves to overthrow President Zelaya, said senior U.S. officials. Washington's ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, sought to facilitate a dialogue between the president's office, the Honduran parliament and the military.

The efforts accelerated over the weekend, as Washington grew increasingly alarmed.

Carlos Echevarria, commenting at Gateway Pundit, sums everything up nicely:

Gateway, this is not a coup, this is the Honduran Armed Forces carrying out an order of the Supreme Court of Honduras and the congress, as well as military leaders that refused to buckle to Zelaya's attempt to fully Chavez-ize the nation....

Today is a day of liberty in Honduras.

But in a sign that this will continue to escalate, the left is already tying the “military coup” to the American Department of Defense. God help me, it’s true.

Now it’s time to see if Obama will support democracy in Honduras, or will enable Chavez to put troops in Honduras to prop up a leftist friend. Anyone want to take bets?

How Times Have Changed

An anecdote from Presidential Diversions, by Paul Boller:

President Grant’s favorite recreation involved horses. He like to drive as well as ride, and he brought a competitive spirit in his driving. He loved to sit on the edge of his seat in a light racing buggy, pull the brim of his slouch had down over his eyes, lean forward until his arms and shoulder were just above the dashboard, and then, speaking a few words to the magnificent trotting horse in front of him, sweep past every other driver on the road. Once, when he was speeding along a street near the White House, a policeman arrested him for driving too fast. When it dawned on the officer that he had arrested the President of the United States, he started apologizing. President Grant interrupted him. “Officer,” he cried, “do your duty!” So the policeman fined him, took his horse and carriage to the police station and let Grant walk back to the White House.

Yes, times change.