Obama en Español

Latin America summit a proving ground for Obama

I'm pretty excited about this trip. Another great opportunity to restore the image of the US internationally, specially in a region that was pretty much abandoned by Clinton and Bush Jr.

I also think it was smart of him to put the ball on Cuba's court (and in the so called ALBA), we'll see if Raul can be smart about this and return the favor with some much needed concessions on his part.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Chavez meet Obama. Chavez doesn't really seem to know how to handle him at all, he still uses his tired US empire rhetoric but when it comes to Obama he sometimes wants to respect them and other times wants to insult him. It was easier to paint the US as a fictional enemy with Bush, now he has a little bit of a problem in the propaganda department.

One thing for sure, is at the upcoming summit, Chavez won't stand the fact that a lot of the press in Latin America is going to go ga-ga over Obama and pretty much ignore his antics the whole time. Great opportunity for him to go a bit nuts and say something stupid once again.

Nice to see at least Obama is getting along really well with Lula, and we're off to a good start with Mexico it seems.

I saw some video of Argentinian media making fun of her because Obama left her hanging with a handshake. Was that a big deal over there? It seemed like an innocent thing, but then again gossip type shows will blow thing like that out of proportion.

And here we go ...







http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad...-de-la-cumbre/

Obama's speech ...
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDktOJROauo
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS4HXeQUvSw

I like it, forward looking, admitting past mistakes but reminding some of the more trouble making "leaders" that it's time to move forward.

To keep things in context, the horrible president of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega went on an anti-US everything is to blame rant before this speech. Of course he tried to not blame it on Obama, but still.

Ortega is an embarrassment, I'm still wondering how he got elected in the first place, but here we are.

Well, I've already seen some conservative sites ventilating over it. I don't know what people were expecting, for Obama to turn his back when Chavez showed up?

Not a fan of Chavez treating Obama like some neophyte that needs to be schooled by him thought.


"Chavez Gifts Obama with Book that Assails US for Exploiting Latin America"
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...-gifts-ob.html

I wouldn't mind it if Obama made some comments warning about old tactics of leaders distracting others with this type of rhetoric. Well, he kind of did in a very indirect way, but considering what is going on with Venezuela these past couple of weeks and possibly next week (they seem to want to close now Globovision) this jerkoff needs to be called on it.


BTW this is the stuff that pisses me off ...
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090418/D97KT7MG0.html

Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and a couple of others should really stop wasting their times with the Cuban issue. Obama has already made good progress in this area, and we need to see Cuba respond and see if it seriously wants to be considered a "Democratic nation" (which it definitely IS NOT). But here's the biggest global crisis ever, and their countries are suffering for it, and you still see a couple of these "leaders" waste their time on that one issue.

Incredible.

Next time they go to Cuba (which a lot of these clowns do) maybe they should talk to the dissidents there, the political prisoners and just maybe question why in Cuba only people with the last name Castro can rule for the last half century?

Well in case anybody cares ...

The summit ended with a weak resolution only signed by one president (in the name of others). In some sense, it was a big waste of time.

For Obama, it was more about meeting with the different Latin American leaders and the different blocks of nations (he met with the central american presidents, and UNASUL) and making sure that everybody understands that the US is open for business and ready to engage the region.

Of course, Chavez in his usual role of attention whore at these events, tried to get pictures with Obama as much as possible and is already back in Venezuela (in full military regalia) claiming victory. http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad...stra-historia/ . He even says this is one of the biggest victories in Venezuelan history! Wow.

Anyways, I think Obama handled Chavez well. Was very cordial to him and got a few digs in (I Though he handed me his book, I was going to give him one of mine) and got some of his advisers to play bad cop and ridicule his camera hogging.

Now if Chavez goes back in full blown anti-American mode, he will look more of a jackass after Obama being so cordial to him.

In the meantime, it seems next Latin American trip Obama will make a stop in Colombia, but probably not Venezuela.

Oh and in Cuba, the positive thing is that Raul is saying "everything is on the table" even the issues around free speech and political prisoners. So that is a big positive development, let's see how they follow up on that one.

Missed that. Did Newt suggest what Obama should have done? Did he want him to pretend he wasn't there in front of him, run away, or cover his ears? Kind of weird ...

Hey thanks Jacob. I like this stuff because I'm reminded of the whole "experience" debate during the election. And I think president Obama has gotten comfortable very quickly when dealing with the leaders of other nations, specially those who are virulently anti-American (currently).

It's also refreshing to see the contrast, not only against Bush, but actually against leaders of other nations. He seems much more serious and professional, but can loosen up and not take himself too seriously when he needs to.

BTW, I would have loved to hear what Obama told Chavez in this little exchange. I could almost imagine it based on the body language;
http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad...havez-y-obama/

That was kind of funny. He didn't seem to lose that much weight, maybe he should do more of these.

I also thought the opposition was going to wait him out to see if he died of hunger, so I'm surprised it worked.