Chavez had some pretty accusatory things to say about Obama and his presidency. He has the 'stench of Bush' http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-politics/20090117/POLITICS-US-VENEZUELA-OBAMA/ What do you think about his assessment?
I too am distressed that a leftist Anti-American tin-pot rable-rouser who called Bush "the Devil" is now dissin the Messiah . . . I thought the world was just going to love us again . . .
That's strange. But Chavez is known for his sensationalism. He probably made those comments because Obama is in full support of increased spending and corporate bailouts. Chavez gives weekly speeches to the public, where someone can complain "Oh, the water in my village is terrible, just terrible..." and Chavez will say "Tomorrow, the water in the village will be perfect! Tomorrow I will send everyone and a cow out to better the water in your village..." etc. So, he does a lot, I repeat *a lot* for public persona purposes. (I alliterate for fun.) It's a little odd, because Fidel Castro came out publicly and posted a long message on his website in support of Obama, saying that he was "a good man" and various other nice things about him after he was elected. Castro refrained from posting and making any public comments about him, because he didn't want people NOT to vote for him, just because Castro says that he's cool. It's possible that Guantanamo Bay is going to be closed and shut down for good shortly after Obama takes office. The rumours are, that is the first thing that will get done. Which will be a good thing for Latin Americans, and I'm sure that Chavez will have something nice to say about it. Chavez is kind of a cool guy. He says whatever pops in his head and he never has to answer to anyone but the people who continute to vote for him.
The thing is, maybe Chavez is trying to get Obama's attention. The man is going to be pulled apart from all sides as soon as he sits in that Oval Office. And the USA is dependent on Venezuela's oil. There's a whole complicated history over the power struggles between this issue. Venezuela is dependent on the USA's money to buy their oil. Yet, supposedly the two countries hate each other. It's a strange predicament. Maybe Chavez wants to test the waters and see how Obama will respond to Latin America and actually take notice instead of blatantly ignoring him like Bush was doing for almost a decade.
Chavez is just a little red puppet he will say anything that is “anti capitalist’ because it earns him brownie points (AK-47s and Military backing) with Cuba and Russia. As his country falls to pieces, poverty rises and the people are striped of what little rights they think they have. ____ Chavez -"If Obama as president of the United States does not obey the orders of the empire, they will kill him, like they killed Kennedy, like they killed Martin Luther King, or Lincoln, who freed the blacks and paid with his life." This is very true. I am also sure that if Hugo Chavez does not obey the orders of the Kremlin he will also be killed like so many others.
Mr. Chavez is an anti-american blow-hard. Venezeula is the OPEC nation with the highest risk from reduced petrol income. Mr. Chavez may need to demonize Obama to justify a continued arms build-up.
The reality is that Chavez is going to miss Bush more than anybody except maybe Ahmenidejad. Its going to be hard to fill up a five hour broadcasts of "Hello President" without ranting about "The Devil". What to do? Because was there ever any principle involved? He moans about Guantanamo, but he's actually subsidising the giant prison also known as The Rest of Cuba. Don't bother asking him to justify that one. In other words, its going to be even harder to explain to the Venezuelan people how exactly they have managed to blow the biggest oil windfall in history with not much to show for it. Bolivarian socialism sure seemed to work when oil was $150 a barrel, but its about $40 now. I think the plan is to blow every last Bolivar to keep the party going until after the referendum on unlimited presidential terms, and then is all going to collapse. You can bet he will blame it on some sort of devious CIA subterfuge. And no, the US isn't dependent on Venezualan oil, its the reverse. Venezuelan oil is very high sulphur, only US refineries can handle it. If Chavez cuts of the US, he's got nowhere to sell his oil. The US can go anywhere. That's why Chavez is all bark and no bite. Great program on Chavez right here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hugochavez/
Funny, Hip, how you put so much effort into attacking scapegoats and boogeymen like Chavez and Ahmadinejad, yet you never have anything negative to say about the criminals who run your own government, who I reckon are far worse than the two aforementioned men combined.
Sorry Rat, but if you are going to whine about people out to get you and "derailing" (i.e. criticising) your topics, you can't start topics solely dedicated to smearing me and then come here stalking me and trying to divert the debate to your beloved conspiracy theory. It makes you look like a hypocrite and a fake.