Courtesy of The Guardian
We at USDemocrazy are starting to think that this presidency deal isn’t so bad. Federally-funded trips to Europe and the Caribbean (no pirates)? Sign us up!
Wait — these are business trips? With every eyeball on the planet watching your every move? Oh, never mind.
A lot of attention has been paid to Obama’s performance at the Summit of the Americas. Eyebrows were raised when Top Yank Obama and Venezuela’s leader (and Top anti-Yank) Hugo Chavez smiled and shook hands in front of cameras and onlookers the world ’round. The Obama administration (and Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest), went out if their way to keep the handshake hand-wringing in hand:
It was good manners, and it was friendly. But it doesn’t signify a significant change or a dramatic change in the relationship between our two countries.
There’s still pretty good evidence that the relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela are at least evolving a little bit, since the Venezuelans want to send an ambassador to the United States — something the White House would be pretty happy with.
Chavez even gave Obama a gift, but not one that might have been on Obama’s wish list (unless he is a closet appreciator of leftist Ecuadorean literature). After Chavez gifted Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent to Mr. President, the book shot to the top of Amazon.com’s bestseller list. Wow!
Jokingly suggesting that Chavez had penned the book, Obama remarked,
I was going to give him one of mine.
In addition to all the Chavez news, Obama also called for a new direction on US relations with Cuba. Last week, you might remember Obama ended the embargo on travel and sending money to U.S. citizens’ Cuban relatives. (In case you’re experiencing memory loss, or just weren’t paying attention that day in history class, here’s our explanation.) The Summit of the Americas seemed like a perfect opportunity for the U.S. to test some new rhetoric involving the island nation.
Suffice it to say that Obama’s Caribbean trip was no vacation. Obama remarked that the Summit was “productive.” We’ll say…
I’m glad US-Venezuelan relations might improve; if only Mr. Chavez would show some respect.
President Obama is trying to change America in a positive manner, yet Mr. Chavez treats him the same as he did President Bush.
Chavez’s gift was almost as bad as Obama’s gift to Tony Blair (25 DVD Box Set). Everyone has given a crummy gift.
The book shows Chavez has not forgotten the past, but he is willing to work together now.