There used to be a time when socialist countries were congratulated by the Eastern Bloc for taking great strides towards socialism, and capitalist countries were congratulated by the Western Bloc for taking strides towards capitalism. Those were the good old days. Now what is left of the the Eastern Bloc has embraced capitalism, and what was once the Western Bloc is well, hurtling towards socialism under the enlightened leadership of Comrade Barack Obama.
But even bearing that in mind, the fact that the US congratulated Hugo Chavez of Venezuela for winning a referendum that eliminated Presidential term limits, even before complete results were in is simply bizarre. Breitbart:
The United States Tuesday welcomed Venezuela’s “civic” referendum lifting term limits for the president and all politicians, but urged support for democracy and tolerance in the country.
“We congratulate the civic and participatory spirit of the millions of Venezuelans who exercized their democratic right to vote,” State Department spokesman Noel Clay told AFP.
The US reaction to Venezuela’s vote comes uncharacteristically before the complete tally has been announced. The country’s electoral board has issued its first, 54-46 percent vote result with only 94 percent of precincts reporting.
US-Venezuelan relations have been steadily deteriorating since Chavez first took office in 1999. In September, they took a turn for the worse after Venezuela expelled the US ambassador and the United States responded in kind.
So the results have not been announced and the US which was alleged to have taken part in an attempt to oust Hugo Chavez in 2002, is now congratulating the same guy for winning an election in this kind of environment: McClatchy:
In this deeply polarized country, the climate of fear was evident in the answer of Nestor Moreno, a 58-year-old construction worker, when he was asked how he’d voted.
“I voted yes because I didn’t want to face reprisals for voting no,” said Moreno. “People lose jobs because they don’t agree with the Chavez regime.
“Chavez is very authoritarian,” Moreno said. “He needs to be more democratic. Things have to be done his way or the highway.”
If a news service could figure that this vote does not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people, if the people of Venezuela could figure out that it does not reflect their will, it is amazing that the U.S State Department in an Obama administration is validating the exact opposite, but I guess supporting democracy over a socialist dictatorship is no longer the focus of our foreign policy.
Birds of a (Socialist) feather flock together. Breitbart:
“Those who voted “yes” today voted for socialism, for revolution,” Chavez thundered to thousands of ecstatic supporters jamming the streets around the presidential palace. Fireworks lit up the Caracas skyline, and one man walked though the crowd carrying a painting of Chavez that read: “Forever.”
Josefa Dugarte stared at the crowd from the stoop of her apartment building with look of dismay.
“These people don’t realize what they have done,” she muttered.
As for Josefa Dugrate, if only she knew that many of us in the USA feel the same way about electing Barack Obama…
