Saturday, April 18, 2009
Obama and Chavez
Photos hit the press this morning of a smiling handshake and backslap between President Obama and President Chavez of Venezuela. I've seen a bit of grousing in the conservative press and some cheap potshots at the President for the interaction. Bottom line for me? This is what Presidents do; better still, this is what a gentleman does. Although I disagree with much of what Barack Obama is trying to do in his Presidency, one does not act like a petulant child in a setting like that, or ignore someone with whom political disagreements exist. The President did the right thing.
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2 comments:
"...one does not act like a petulant child in a setting like that, or ignore someone with whom political disagreements exist."
True enough, but I would also add that one should refrain from throwing one's country under the foreign relations bus at every stop on the apology tour. I think what truly grouses the conservative press is Obama's MO of excoriating the Bush team's foreign policy in public, while maintaining much of its structure in private.
I wouldn't be surprised if Chavez, if he's still around in a few years, finds himself pining for the good old days of the Bush Administration - at least he knows where he stood with Bush and all that...
GG--agree with the under the bus stuff, and I should be more aggressive here about raising those issues.
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