Obama today laid out his comprehensive Latin America policy

[Hope And Change]

Renewing U.S. Leadership in the Americas


by Sam Graham-FelsenFriday, May 23, 2008 at 08:00 PM



MIAMI, FL—Senator Barack Obama today laid out his comprehensive Latin America policy, rejecting the Bush-McCain approach that has neglected the Americas and failed to adapt to the realities of our changing world. Speaking at the Cuban American National Foundation Luncheon, Obama outlined his plans to forge a new regional approach to combat insecurity and aggressively promote economic opportunity through new trade, aid and energy policies.

Obama also discussed his differences with McCain and Bush and stressed the need to renew the leadership of the United States in the hemisphere through direct diplomacy.

As President, Barack Obama will:

* Engage in direct diplomacy throughout the hemisphere to advance democracy and promote American values and ideals

* Immediately allow Cuban Americans unlimited family travel and remittances to the island

* Create an Energy Partnership for the Americas—a regional energy initiative to develop alternative energy and promote clean and sustainable growth

* Launch a regional security initiative to develop a new approach to battling criminality and drug trafficking in the hemisphere

* Target development assistance for Latin America aimed at promoting bottom-up growth

* Reinstate a Special Envoy for the Americas in the White House and open more consulates and expand the Peace Corps in Latin America.

You can read Obama’s full Latin America plan http://my.barackobama.com/page/-/documents/Fact%20Sheet%20Latin%20America%20FINAL.pdf">here.

Here's an excerpt...

If we don’t turn away from the policies of the past, then we won’t be able to shape the future. The Bush Administration has offered no clear vision for this future, and neither has John McCain. So we face a clear choice in this election. We can continue as a bystander, or we can lead the hemisphere into the 21st century. And when I am President of the United States, we will choose to lead. It’s time for a new alliance of the Americas. After eight years of the failed policies of the past, we need new leadership for the future. After decades pressing for top-down reform, we need an agenda that advances democracy, security, and opportunity from the bottom up. So my policy towards the Americas will be guided by the simple principle that what’s good for the people of the Americas is good for the United States.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGCMCY">Continue reading for the full remarks...


Renewing U.S. Leadership in the Americas

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama

Cuban American National Foundation

May 23, 2008

As prepared for delivery

It is my privilege to join in this week’s Independence Day celebration, and in honoring those who have stood up with courage and conviction for Cuban liberty. I’m going to take this opportunity to speak about Cuba, and also U.S. policy toward the Americas more broadly.

We meet here united in our unshakeable commitment to freedom. And it is fitting that we reaffirm that commitment here in Miami.

In many ways, Miami stands as a symbol of hope for what’s possible in the Americas. Miami’s promise of liberty and opportunity has drawn generations of immigrants to these shores, sometimes with nothing more than the clothes on their back. It was a similar hope that drew my own father across an ocean, in search of the same promise that our dreams need not be deferred because of who we are, what we look like, or where we come from.

Here, in Miami, that promise can join people together. We take common pride in a vibrant and diverse democracy, and a hard-earned prosperity. We find common pleasure in the crack of the bat, in the rhythms of our music, and the ease of voices shifting from Spanish or Creole or Portuguese to English.

These bonds are built on a foundation of shared history in our hemisphere. Colonized by empires, we share stories of liberation. Confronted by our own imperfections, we are joined in a desire to build a more perfect union. Rich in resources, we have yet to vanquish poverty.

What all of us strive for is freedom as FDR described it. Political freedom. Religious freedom. But also freedom from want, and freedom from fear. At our best, the United States has been a force for these four freedoms in the Americas. But if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that at times we’ve failed to engage the people of the region with the respect owed to a partner.

When George Bush was elected, he held out the promise that this would change. He raised the hopes of the region that our engagement would be sustained instead of piecemeal. He called Mexico our most important bilateral relationship, and pledged to make Latin America a “fundamental commitment” of his presidency. It seemed that a new 21st century era had dawned.

Almost eight years later, those high hopes have been dashed.

Since the Bush Administration launched a misguided war in Iraq, its policy in the Americas has been negligent toward our friends, ineffective with our adversaries, disinterested in the challenges that matter in peoples’ lives, and incapable of advancing our interests in the region.

No wonder, then, that demagogues like Hugo Chavez have stepped into this vacuum. His predictable yet perilous mix of anti-American rhetoric, authoritarian government, and checkbook diplomacy offers the same false promise as the tried and failed ideologies of the past. But the United States is so alienated from the rest of the Americas that this stale vision has gone unchallenged, and has even made inroads from Bolivia to Nicaragua. And Chavez and his allies are not the only ones filling the vacuum. While the United States fails to address the changing realities in the Americas, others from Europe and Asia – notably China – have stepped up their own engagement. Iran has drawn closer to Venezuela, and just the other day Tehran and Caracas launched a joint bank with their windfall oil profits.

That is the record – the Bush record in Latin America – that John McCain has chosen to embrace. Senator McCain doesn’t talk about these trends in our hemisphere because he knows that it’s part of the broader Bush-McCain failure to address priorities beyond Iraq. The situation has changed in the Americas, but we’ve failed to change with it. Instead of engaging the people of the region, we’ve acted as if we can still dictate terms unilaterally. We have not offered a clear and comprehensive vision, backed up with strong diplomacy. We are failing to join the battle for hearts and minds. For far too long, Washington has engaged in outdated debates and stuck to tired blueprints on drugs and trade, on democracy and development -- even though they won’t meet the tests of the future.

The stakes could not be higher. It is time for us to recognize that the future security and prosperity of the United States is fundamentally tied to the future of the Americas. If we don’t turn away from the policies of the past, then we won’t be able to shape the future. The Bush Administration has offered no clear vision for this future, and neither has John McCain.

So we face a clear choice in this election. We can continue as a bystander, or we can lead the hemisphere into the 21st century. And when I am President of the United States, we will choose to lead.

It’s time for a new alliance of the Americas. After eight years of the failed policies of the past, we need new leadership for the future. After decades pressing for top-down reform, we need an agenda that advances democracy, security, and opportunity from the bottom up. So my policy towards the Americas will be guided by the simple principle that what’s good for the people of the Americas is good for the United States. That means measuring success not just through agreements among governments, but also through the hopes of the child in the favelas of Rio, the security for the policeman in Mexico City, and the answered cries of political prisoners heard from jails in Havana.

The first and most fundamental freedom that we must work for is political freedom. The United States must be a relentless advocate for democracy.

I grew up for a time in Indonesia. It was a society struggling to achieve meaningful democracy. Power could be undisguised and indiscriminate. Too often, power wore a uniform, and was unaccountable to the people. Some still had good reason to fear a knock on the door.

There is no place for this kind of tyranny in this hemisphere. There is no place for any darkness that would shut out the light of liberty. Here we must heed the words of Dr. King, written from his own jail cell: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Throughout my entire life, there has been injustice in Cuba. Never, in my lifetime, have the people of Cuba known freedom. Never, in the lives of two generations of Cubans, have the people of Cuba known democracy. This is the terrible and tragic status quo that we have known for half a century – of elections that are anything but free or fair; of dissidents locked away in dark prison cells for the crime of speaking the truth. I won’t stand for this injustice, you won’t stand for this injustice, and together we will stand up for freedom in Cuba.

Now I know what the easy thing is to do for American politicians. Every four years, they come down to Miami, they talk tough, they go back to Washington, and nothing changes in Cuba. That’s what John McCain did the other day. He joined the parade of politicians who make the same empty promises year after year, decade after decade. Instead of offering a strategy for change, he chose to distort my position, embrace George Bush’s, and continue a policy that’s done nothing to advance freedom for the Cuban people. That’s the political posture that John McCain has chosen, and all it shows is that you can’t take his so-called straight talk seriously.

My policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: Libertad. And the road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba’s political prisoners, the rights of free speech, a free press and freedom of assembly; and it must lead to elections that are free and fair.

Now let me be clear. John McCain’s been going around the country talking about how much I want to meet with Raul Castro, as if I’m looking for a social gathering. That’s never what I’ve said, and John McCain knows it. After eight years of the disastrous policies of George Bush, it is time to pursue direct diplomacy, with friend and foe alike, without preconditions. There will be careful preparation. We will set a clear agenda. And as President, I would be willing to lead that diplomacy at a time and place of my choosing, but only when we have an opportunity to advance the interests of the United States, and to advance the cause of freedom for the Cuban people.

I will never, ever, compromise the cause of liberty. And unlike John McCain, I would never, ever, rule out a course of action that could advance the cause of liberty. We’ve heard enough empty promises from politicians like George Bush and John McCain. I will turn the page.

It’s time for more than tough talk that never yields results. It’s time for a new strategy. There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans. That’s why I will immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances to the island. It’s time to let Cuban Americans see their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers. It’s time to let Cuban American money make their families less dependent upon the Castro regime.

I will maintain the embargo. It provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: if you take significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations. That’s the way to bring about real change in Cuba – through strong, smart and principled diplomacy.

And we know that freedom across our hemisphere must go beyond elections. In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez is a democratically elected leader. But we also know that he does not govern democratically. He talks of the people, but his actions just serve his own power. Yet the Bush Administration's blustery condemnations and clumsy attempts to undermine Chavez have only strengthened his hand.

We’ve heard plenty of talk about democracy from George Bush, but we need steady action. We must put forward a vision of democracy that goes beyond the ballot box. We should increase our support for strong legislatures, independent judiciaries, free press, vibrant civil society, honest police forces, religious freedom, and the rule of law. That is how we can support democracy that is strong and sustainable not just on an election day, but in the day to day lives of the people of the Americas.

That is what is so badly needed – not just in Cuba and Venezuela – but just to our southeast in Haiti as well. The Haitian people have suffered too long under governments that cared more about their own power than their peoples’ progress and prosperity. It’s time to press Haiti’s leaders to bridge the divides between them. And it’s time to invest in the economic development that must underpin the security that the Haitian people lack. And that is why the second part of my agenda will be advancing freedom from fear in the Americas.

For too many people in our hemisphere, security is absent from their daily lives. And for far too long, Washington has been trapped in a conventional thinking about Latin America and the Caribbean. From the right, we hear about violent insurgents. From the left, we hear about paramilitaries. This is the predictable debate that seems frozen in time from the 1980s. You’re either soft on Communism or soft on death squads. And it has more to do with the politics of Washington than beating back the perils that so many people face in the Americas.

The person living in fear of violence doesn’t care if they’re threatened by a right-wing paramilitary or a left-wing terrorist; they don’t care if they’re being threatened by a drug cartel or a corrupt police force. They just care that they’re being threatened, and that their families can’t live and work in peace. That is why there will never be true security unless we focus our efforts on targeting every source of fear in the Americas. That’s what I’ll do as President of the United States.

For the people of Colombia – who have suffered at the hands of killers of every sort – that means battling all sources of violence. When I am President, we will continue the Andean Counter-Drug Program, and update it to meet evolving challenges. We will fully support Colombia’s fight against the FARC. We’ll work with the government to end the reign of terror from right wing paramilitaries. We will support Colombia’s right to strike terrorists who seek safe-haven across its borders. And we will shine a light on any support for the FARC that comes from neighboring governments. This behavior must be exposed to international condemnation, regional isolation, and – if need be – strong sanctions. It must not stand.

We must also make clear our support for labor rights, and human rights, and that means meaningful support for Colombia’s democratic institutions. We’ve neglected this support – especially for the rule of law – for far too long. In every country in our hemisphere – including our own – governments must develop the tools to protect their people.

Because if we’ve learned anything in our history in the Americas, it’s that true security cannot come from force alone. Not as long as there are towns in Mexico where drug kingpins are more powerful than judges. Not as long as there are children who grow up afraid of the police. Not as long as drugs and gangs move north across our border, while guns and cash move south in return.

This nexus is a danger to every country in the region – including our own. Thousands of Central American gang members have been arrested across the United States, including here in south Florida. There are national emergencies facing Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Mexican drug cartels are terrorizing cities and towns. President Calderon was right to say that enough is enough. We must support Mexico’s effort to crack down. But we must stand for more than force – we must support the rule of law from the bottom up. That means more investments in prevention and prosecutors; in community policing and an independent judiciary.

I agree with my friend, Senator Dick Lugar – the Merida Initiative does not invest enough in Central America, where much of the trafficking and gang activity begins. And we must press further south as well. It’s time to work together to find the best practices that work across the hemisphere, and to tailor approaches to fit each country. That’s why I will direct my Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to sit down with all their counterparts in the Americas during my first year in office. We’ll strive for unity of effort. We’ll provide the resources, and ask that every country do the same. And we’ll tie our support to clear benchmarks for drug seizures, corruption prosecutions, crime reduction, and kingpins busted.

We have to do our part. And that is why a core part of this effort will be a northbound-southbound strategy. We need tougher border security, and a renewed focus on busting up gangs and traffickers crossing our border. But we must address the material heading south as well. As President, I’ll make it clear that we’re coming after the guns, we’re coming after the money laundering, and we’re coming after the vehicles that enable this crime. And we’ll crack down on the demand for drugs in our own communities, and restore funding for drug task forces and the COPS program. We must win the fights on our own streets if we’re going to secure the region.

The third part of my agenda is advancing freedom from want, because there is much that we can do to advance opportunity for the people of the Americas.

That begins with understanding what’s changed in Latin America, and what hasn’t. Enormous wealth has been created, and financial markets are far stronger than a decade ago. Brazil’s economy has grown by leaps and bounds, and perhaps the second richest person in the world is a Mexican. Yet while there has been great economic progress, there is still back-breaking inequality. Despite a growing middle class, 100 million people live on less than two dollars a day, and 40 percent of Latin Americans live in poverty. This feeds everything from drugs, to migration, to support for leaders that appeal to the poor without delivering on their promises.

That is why the United States must stand for growth in the Americas from the bottom up. That begins at home, with comprehensive immigration reform. That means securing our border and passing tough employer enforcement laws. It means bringing 12 million unauthorized immigrants out of the shadows. But it also means working with Mexico, Central America and others to support bottom up development to our south.

For two hundred years, the United States has made it clear that we won’t stand for foreign intervention in our hemisphere. But every day, all across the Americas, there is a different kind of struggle – not against foreign armies, but against the deadly threat of hunger and thirst, disease and despair. That is not a future that we have to accept – not for the child in Port au Prince or the family in the highlands of Peru. We can do better. We must do better.

We cannot ignore suffering to our south, nor stand for the globalization of the empty stomach. Responsibility rests with governments in the region, but we must do our part. I will substantially increase our aid to the Americas, and embrace the Millennium Development Goals of halving global poverty by 2015. We’ll target support to bottom-up growth through micro financing, vocational training, and small enterprise development. It’s time for the United States to once again be a beacon of hope and a helping hand.

Trade must be part of this solution. But I strongly reject the Bush-McCain view that any trade deal is a good deal. We cannot accept trade that enriches those at the top of the ladder while cutting out the rungs at the bottom. It’s time to understand that the goal of our trade policy must be trade that works for all people in all countries. Like Central America’s bishops, I opposed CAFTA because the needs of workers were not adequately addressed. I supported the Peru Free Trade Agreement because there were binding labor and environmental provisions. That’s the kind of trade we need – trade that lifts up workers, not just a corporate bottom line.

There’s nothing protectionist about demanding that trade spreads the benefits of globalization, instead of steering them to special interests while we short-change workers at home and abroad. If John McCain believes – as he said the other day – that 80 percent of Americans think we’re on the wrong track because we haven’t passed free trade with Colombia, then he’s totally out of touch with the American people. And if John McCain thinks that we can paper over our failure of leadership in the region by occasionally passing trade deals with friendly governments, then he’s out of touch with the people of the Americas.

And we have to look for ways to grow our economies and deepen integration beyond trade deals. That’s what China is doing right now, as they build bridges from Beijing to Brazil, and expand their investments across the region. If the United States does not step forward, we risk being left behind. And that is why we must seize a unique opportunity to lead the region toward a more secure and sustainable energy future.

All of us feel the impact of the global energy crisis. In the short-term, it means an ever-more expensive addiction to oil, which bankrolls petro-powered authoritarianism around the globe, and drives up the cost of everything from a tank of gas to dinner on the table. And in the long-term, few regions are more imperiled by the stronger storms, higher floodwaters, and devastating droughts that could come with global warming. Whole crops could disappear, putting the food supply at risk for hundreds of millions.

While we share this risk, we also share the resources to do something about it. That’s why I’ll bring together the countries of the region in a new Energy Partnership for the Americas. We need to go beyond bilateral agreements. We need a regional approach. Together, we can forge a path toward sustainable growth and clean energy.

Leadership must begin at home. That’s why I’ve proposed a cap and trade system to limit our carbon emissions and to invest in alternative sources of energy. We’ll allow industrial emitters to offset a portion of this cost by investing in low carbon energy projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. And we’ll increase research and development across the Americas in clean coal technology, in the next generation of sustainable biofuels not taken from food crops, and in wind and solar energy.

We’ll enlist the World Bank, the Organization of American States, and the Inter-American Development Bank to support these investments, and ensure that these projects enhance natural resources like land, wildlife, and rain forests. We’ll finally enforce environmental standards in our trade deals. We’ll establish a program for the Department of Energy and our laboratories to share technology with countries across the region. We’ll assess the opportunities and risks of nuclear power in the hemisphere by sitting down with Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. And we’ll call on the American people to join this effort through an Energy Corps of engineers and scientists who will go abroad to help develop clean energy solutions.

This is the unique role that the United States can play. We can offer more than the tyranny of oil. We can learn from the progress made in a country like Brazil, while making the Americas a model for the world. We can offer leadership that serves the common prosperity and common security of the entire region.

This is the promise of FDR’s Four Freedoms that we must realize. But only if we recognize that in the 21st century, we cannot treat Latin America and the Caribbean as a junior partner, just as our neighbors to the south should reject the bombast of authoritarian bullies. An alliance of the Americas will only succeed if it is founded on a bedrock of mutual respect. It’s time to turn the page on the arrogance in Washington and the anti-Americanism across the region that stands in the way of progress. It’s time to listen to one another and to learn from one another.

To fulfill this promise, my Administration won’t wait six years to proclaim a “year of engagement.” We will pursue aggressive, principled, and sustained diplomacy in the Americas from Day One. I will reinstate a Special Envoy for the Americas in my White House who will work with my full support. But we’ll also expand the Foreign Service, and open more consulates in the neglected regions of the Americas. We’ll expand the Peace Corps, and ask more young Americans to go abroad to deepen the trust and the ties among our people.

And we must tap the vast resource of our own immigrant population to advance each part of our agenda. One of the troubling aspects of our recent politics has been the anti-immigrant sentiment that has flared up, and been exploited by politicians come election time. We need to understand that immigration –when done legally – is a source of strength for this country. Our diversity is a source of strength for this country. When we join together – black, white, Hispanic, Asian, and native American – there is nothing that we can’t accomplish. Todos somos Americanos!

Together, we can choose the future over the past.

At a time when our leadership has suffered, I have no doubts about whether we can succeed. If the United States makes its case; if we meet those who doubt us or deride us head-on; if we draw on our best tradition of standing up for those Four Freedoms – then we can shape our future instead of being shaped by it. We can renew our leadership in the hemisphere. We can win the support not just of governments, but of the people of the Americas. But only if we leave the bluster behind. Only if we are strong and steadfast; confident and consistent.

Jose Marti once wrote. “It is not enough to come to the defense of freedom with epic and intermittent efforts when it is threatened at moments that appear critical. Every moment is critical for the defense of freedom.”

Every moment is critical. And this must be our moment. Freedom. Opportunity. Dignity. These are not just the values of the United States – they are the values of the Americas. They were the cause of Washington’s infantry and Bolivar’s cavalry; of Marti’s pen and Hidalgo’s church bells.

That legacy is our inheritance. That must be our cause. And now must be the time that we turn the page to a new chapter in the story of the Americas.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGCMCY">Link

[BattyDem]

1. It's going to be so nice having a grown-up in charge again.

:bounce:

[sandnsea]

2. bottom-up growth

Every time he says that, think of his mother and the women around the world who are going to get direct assistance to create a business so they can stay in their homes with their families - instead of ending up in a sweat shop to make plastics for Walmart.

THAT is the difference between Barack and Hillary.

[Peace Patriot]

3. "...what’s good for the people of the Americas is good for the United States."

Haven't read it all yet, but I stopped at this. It almost brought tears to my eyes. It has been so-o-o-o-o long since any of our leaders have said anything with so much common sense, and so much deep meaning, about Latin America.

No more war on South American leaders who believe in using oil profits to benefit the poor--for schools, for teachers, for medical care, for services to poor areas never before served by government, for local infrastructure and manufacturing, for land reform, for small businesses, and meaningful extras like equipped baseball parks (all over Venezuela), and support for the awesome Venezuelan Children's Orchestra (tens of thousands of the poorest children trained in classical music--and acclaimed worldwide for the BEST classical music performances of our era!)

No more coup plots against DEMOCRATIC governments! No more larding of the fascist murderers in Colombia with $5.5 BILLION in military aid! No more shoving U.S.-dominated "free trade" and ruinous World Bank/IMF loans down their throats. No more bullying. No more Bushitism.

"...what’s good for the people of the Americas is good for the United States."

Wow. Six months ago if you had told me that this would be said, in Miami, by our Democratic presidential nominee, I would have thought you were crazy. Not possible.

It seems so simple and innocuous. But it is not. Believe me. It is a very profound statement. Because, what the Bush Junta has done, is to put the interests of Exxon Mobil & brethren not just as a first priority in South America, but as its ONLY priority. The well-being of the people of South America is not even of the slightest consideration to them. They support, fund, organize and arm FASCISTS--the fascists running Colombia, and the fascist cabals within other countries planning coups--whose notion of addressing the labor problem is to KILL the labor leaders! Literally. That's what's happening in Colombia. That's what the fascists cabals in other countries--countries that have gone overwhelmingly democratic and leftists--want to do. Bill Clinton funded these bastards in Colombia, in the name of the "war on drugs." The Bush Junta has done this and worse--supporting assassination plots and coup attempts, and trying to instigate Oil War II.

Imagine a president of the U.S. who even THINKS ABOUT "what's good for the people of the Americas." Am I going to say "impossible" again? No. Not this time.

I glanced down the speech, and there are a lot of nooks and crannies in it, that I want to delve into. One of them is the presumption that the United States has ANY "leadership" role in South America any more. South America is in the hands of its PEOPLE, who are electing the leaders THEY want. We should be speaking of COOPERATION, not leadership.

But, hey, Barack Obama just walked through minefield. A minefield laid by Donald Rumsfeld.* So I'll just send Obama some prayers and shut up for a while.

-------------------

*"The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez," by Donald Rumsfeld, 12/1/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.html

[Peace Patriot]

5. Aw, crap! He did it. He called Hugo Chavez an "authoritarian."

"No wonder, then, that demagogues like Hugo Chavez have stepped into this vacuum. His predictable yet perilous mix of anti-American rhetoric, authoritarian government, and checkbook diplomacy offers the same false promise as the tried and failed ideologies of the past. But the United States is so alienated from the rest of the Americas that this stale vision has gone unchallenged, and has even made inroads from Bolivia to Nicaragua. And Chavez and his allies are not the only ones filling the vacuum. While the United States fails to address the changing realities in the Americas, others from Europe and Asia – notably China – have stepped up their own engagement. Iran has drawn closer to Venezuela, and just the other day Tehran and Caracas launched a joint bank with their windfall oil profits." --Barack Obama

-------------

Sounds just like Donald Rumsfeld, at this point. "Tyrants like Chavez." (Rumsfeld) "Demagogues like Hugo Chavez" and his "perilous mix of anti-American rhetoric" and "authoritarian government." (Obama)

"...stepped into this vacuum..." First of all, what vacuum? The Bushite vacuum in South America? The Bushites supported a violent, rightwing military coup against the Chavez government. That is not a vacuum. That is VENOMOUS HOSTILITY and MURDEROUS INTENTION. The Bushite have been pouring our tax dollars, through USAID-NED and other budgets, into extremist rightwing groups--the coup planners--in Venezuela, and also in Bolivia and other countries. This is not a vacuum. This is a WAR.

"...anti-American rhetoric..." Chavez has NEVER uttered statements against Americans--ever. He has lambasted the BUSH JUNTA. And can we frackin BLAME him?

"...checkbook diplomacy..." Ahem. $5.5 BILLION in U.S. military aid, through Bushite fingers, to the worst government in South America, Colombia, where the leaders have colluded with rightwing death squads to slaughter thousands of innocent people--not to mention their assassination plots against Chavez and other leaders, in cahoots with the Bushites.

"...the same false promise as the tried and failed ideologies of the past." What "false promise" is that? Food on the table for Venezuela's vast poor population? Shoes on their children's feet, so they can go to school? Schools? Medical care? Houses for the poor that don't slide off the hills of Caracas in rainstorms? The Chavez government has FULFILLED its promises. It has greatly reduced poverty. It has wiped out illiteracy. It is responsible for a 10% economic growth rate, with the biggest growth in the PRIVATE sector (not including oil). This is not the "false promise" of "past ideologies." This is CREATIVE, forward-thinking management of the country's resources for the benefit of the people, in a mixed socialist/capitalist economy, much like the economies of western Europe and Scandinavia. The Chavez government has furthermore advanced concepts of regional self-determination, regional financing (the Bank of the South), and a South American "Common Market" that are extremely popular throughout the continent. South America is not our backyard, to "lead" and exploit. It is THEIRS. It belongs to the people who live there, and who, at long last, have created the strong democratic institutions they needed to elect the leaders THEY want. Who are WE to use words like "demagogue" and "authoritarian" and "tyrant" to describe the leaders THEY have repeatedly elected. It is insulting to the people of South America. Obama may not have intended the insult. But there it is.

"...this stale vision has gone unchallenged." Food on the table. Shoes on the kids' feet. Schools. A medical clinic down the street. Venezuelan music on the radio--not canned music from Walmart. Stale?

I'm getting good and sick of this speech. I saw something promising in it--"what's good for people of the Americas"--and clearly Obama doesn't recognize it when he sees it. What's good for the people of the Americas is...food on the table, shoes on the kids' feet, education, medical care...hope. He's big on the word hope, and doesn't seem to know what it means. Hope for whom? U.S. investors? Anti-Castro Miamians who want to get rid of "Hugo" so they can re-install the rich oil elite in power?

(this stale vision) "has even made inroads from Bolivia to Nicaragua..." Yeah, their dirt poor people are eating better, too, and planning educations for their kids. Sad, sad. All these "inroads."

"...just the other day Tehran and Caracas launched a joint bank with their windfall oil profits." Oh, my, my, my. "Windfall oil profits" that, in Venezuela anyway (I don't know about Tehran) are feeding and clothing poor children and sending them to school. Has he said anything about Exxon Mobil's obscene FORTY BILLION DOLLARS IN PROFIT? Where are those "windfall profits" going? Hm?

Crap. That's all I can say. This paragraph of his speech is unmitigated crap. There is no VACUUM for us to fill. The South Americans have it covered. They are seeing to their own welfare. They don't need us. But we need them--to teach us what democracy looks like.

He hasn't played the "terrorist" card...yet. I'm afraid to read on. But maybe he'll be okay--maybe he'll call off the 4th Fleet and the coup attempts and assassination plots. That's all South America needs from us--to STOP FUCKING WITH THEM.

[redqueen]

6. Yeah... his rhetoric about Chavez is disappointing to say the least...

but then again... how many American politicians are saying anything different?

*sigh*

[angstlessk]

7. but, peace patriot, if he actually talks to Chavez he might change his tune...Obama

after all is not an idealogue...he can change his policy upon new information.

[Peace Patriot]

9. Yes, very true. I think that is a VERY HOPEFUL sign, and I have not stressed it enough.

Thank you for reminding me--and all of us. We're coming out of an extremely dark, fascist era of Bushitism, and for our candidate to want to TALK TO people, and go the diplomatic route, is progress--relative to what has gone before.

It's hard to know how much of what he said is pandering, politics, fear of the Associated Pukes, or whatever, versus his intention as policy. But I just get crazy about this demonization of Chavez and Rafael Correa, because it is so wrong--such a totally screwed up viewpoint. And because of the HISTORY of the U.S. in Latin America. This is how it starts, and the next thing we know, some good leftist leader is dead, thousands of his supporters are rounded up and slaughtered, and the fascists reign again. I think that is not as likely to happen now, as in the 1970s through 1990s. I think democracy and social justice have essentially won, in South America. But I shudder to hear the drumbeats of demonization coming from the politician who is supposed to represent hope and change for the better.

Your point is well-taken, though. Look at how they all beat up on him just for saying he would TALK TO people. We have a long way to go to restore credibility in South America. I hope and pray that, once he starts talking to its leaders--and, better yet, LISTENING--he will see things more clearly, and be able to lead THIS country to a better path.

[Peace Patriot]

8. Okay, I've calmed down now. I'm having a bit of deja vu. This speech reads much like JFK's

early speeches, which contain embarrassing paragraphs about the communist menace. You read them now and cringe. But young people like me (I was 16 when I volunteered for JFK's 1960 campaign) could sense something better in JFK than his anti-communist rhetoric--a creative mind, an open mind, who would--as it turned out--grow in the office, and develop a genuine commitment to world peace. He stopped the CIA invasion of Cuba, he prevented a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (with a bargain that the Soviets would withdraw their missiles from Cuba and we would withdraw ours from Turkey), he ultimately turned against the CIA's stealth war in Vietnam (for which he paid the price of his own life, in my opinion), he worked to turn our humongous military budget to positive purpose (the space program, putting men on the moon; negotiating the first nuclear disarmament treaty), and he wrote the basic planks of what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the badly named (by LBJ) but well-intended "War on Poverty." And he created the Peace Corps, which--for all its "Manifest Destiny" bullcrap, and CIA misuse--DID provide amazing experiences of the third world that radicalized the lives of many young Americans. The Peace Corps did, indeed, provide on-the-ground, practical help for people in need, and opened a lot of young American eyes.

More than this, he INSPIRED a whole generation to re-think U.S. foreign policy, and what American life is--or should be--all about. His youth, his newness, his creativity, his intelligence, and his call to public service were really the sparks that led to the most profound cultural revolution in history--with an entire generation revolting against unjust war, and a hurricane of social change, including the civil right movement, the anti-war movement, the women's liberation movement, the gay rights movement, the environmental movement, and much else.

I go back and read his speeches, and say, "Huh? That's what inspired me? Beating the Soviets?" The truth may be that most of what was coming was inside of US, the people, especially the young, and was not caused by any leader. The change of consciousness was our own creativity and intelligence emerging--our individual growth and our collective identity. He WAS inspirational, though, like Obama is. And some of his speeches were very moving (his speech to the UN on world peace, for instance). With Obama, too, it's really his SUPPORTERS who are exciting, to a long timer observer of American politics like me. The citizen activism around the Obama campaign is THE essential component of change and reform. It is the thing that has been lacking for so long. The long nightmare of a disempowered, demoralized--and, above all--disenfranchised American citizenry seems to be over.

We still have NON-TRANSPARENT vote counting, though--WHICH THEY DO NOT HAVE IN VENEZUELA. Jeez! Chavez was ELECTED! He can prove it. Can Bush? Can Cheney? Can Obama? Can ANY politician in this country show me the proof that they were, in fact, elected? Chavez can. And if you think that the Venezuelans would elect a "demagogue" and a "dictator," you don't know Venezuelans very well (who have the liveliest political culture in the western hemisphere, in a country where most people have read their Constitution and many carry it around in their pockets, in a tiny pocket version, to remind them of the RULE OF LAW).

Sorry, this Obama anti-communist...um, anti-Chavez...DEMAGOGUERY really burns me up.

There is a long list of very bad things in this speech, buying into virtually every Bushite "talking point" on South America, and nearly every Bushite policy, for that matter--and VERY FEW positive points. He's going to continue funding (billions of dollars) the slaughter of small peasant farmers, union leaders, political leftists, community organizers, human rights workers and journalists in Colombia. No relief there. He is crazy if he thinks the Colombian fascists are going to reform. That's what they think the "war on drugs" money is FOR--to prop up their fascist power with murder, torture and oppression, not to mention their drug cartels. He thinks he's going to bargain with them, over "free trade." That's what Bush says. That's what Clinton says. They're lying. Maybe Obama is a little more sincere than they are. It won't get him very far. And the upshot is that the planet-killing global corporate predators like Monsanto will have "free trade" with which to kill the planet some more in Colombia.

There are a FEW lights in this collosaly disappointing speech. One is that he seems to understand the difference between corporate biofuel production and alternative energy that doesn't destroy the food chain and kill the planet. But whether he has any cards to play in Colombia, in Brazil and with corps like Monsanto remains to be seen. The corporate biofuelers lust after the Amazon, and the Colombian jungles and farmlands. Is Obama just their shill? Bush with a nicer face?

I am not encouraged by this speech that Obama will bring change for the better in U.S. Latin American policy. He may, though, forestall the worst--the Bushites' planned WAR FOR THE OIL.

One other item that sets off my alarm bells: He has bought into this psyops that Uribe (Colombia) is perpetrating (but that I'm pretty convinced has been orchestrated by Donald Rumsfeld, as part of a war plan) that the presidents of Venezuela and Ecuador are "terrorist-lovers." This is such a superficial reading of AP newscrap that I despair of Obama and his advisers. What it says to me is that Obama is going to CONTINUE this abusive, lying, disinformation war that the Bushites have started, even to the point of hostilities. He even mentions "sanctions"--as if we had the goddamned right to sanction Venezuela, which has harmed no one, while our "friend," Colombia, is killing anybody who dares to raise their head in opposition. He furthermore thinks that WE have the power in the OAS to do as we please (no longer true, at all), or...what is worse... that he is going to pursue Bushite "divide and conquer" tactics, to bribe and bully others to obey dictates from Washington.

Either way, it bodes ill. Either he has illusions of U.S. power in South America, or he intends to REASSERT U.S. power to DICTATE TO South America.

Yeah, I'm still mad. This speech makes me very mad.

To pull back a moment, Obama was walking into a minefield, as I said before. He was speaking to an audience of people who were so bitter about JFK's lack of support for invading Cuba, that some of their CIA-connected gangsters more than likely assisted in JFK's assassination. In any case, that is the background, the history. And the virulence of their hatred for the poor of Latin America--especially the poor BROWN people of Latin America--continues today, in some anti-Castro Miamian hearts. They are conquistadors. They want their PROPERTY back, including their slaves. This was a community founded by the heinous dictators of the Bautista regime in Cuba, supplemented today by people who supported kidnapping and assassinating Hugo Chavez, and suspending the Constitution, the National Assembly, the courts and all civil rights, in a coup against the elected government of Venezuela. They are plotting with the Bushites, even as I write this, to harass, humiliate, slander, topple and kill the president of Venezuela, and reinstall themselves in power--or, rather, they want US to do it FOR them. The group that Obama was speaking to is one of the milder groups--they are called "moderate." But they are nevertheless something of a front for the bad motives and activities that run through this community--and those bad motives and activities have been re-invigorated and FUNDED by the Bush Junta.

Obama had some nerve to walk in there at all. I give him that. But his pandering to this fascist, Bushite-connected crowd makes me want to puke. Or maybe he wasn't pandering. Maybe he believes this crap. Which is worse? I dunno.

[anigbrowl]

4. Cue wingnut screams about NWO, the Amero and Satan's plan for a world government.

[quantass]

10. What a great Man!