Monday, December 4, 2006 at 11:23 AM

Viva Chávez!

Posted by Anthony L. Hall

Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives and one of the shrewdest and most respected politicians in American history, is credited with coining the aphorism:

All politics is local.

Alas, this is a factor those of us who harbored delusions of an upset in yesterday’s Venezuelan presidential elections clearly forgot. Because, where incumbent President Hugo Chávez’s behavior on the international stage made us see him as nothing but a boorish Castro wannabe (see Related Articles), his behavior at home induced poor peasant farmers - who comprise the overwhelming majority of Venezuela’s electorate - to see him as a latter-day Robin Hood.

Moreover, precisely because “all politics is local”, the abysmal failure of his regional Merry Men - in places like Bolivia - to emulate the way Chávez caters to his poor masses and the way he runs through diplomatic protocols like a bull in a China shop have had no adverse impact on his popularity at home.

Meanwhile, as competent a challenger as Manuel Rosales may have been, he is more suited to be Venezuela’s ambassador to the developed world than its president. And with Chávez ruling his country like a truly benign despot – afflicting the comfortable (by, inter alia, confiscating their land to redistribute amongst peasants as cooperative farms) and comforting the afflicted (by, inter alia, using Venezuela’s oil wealth to provide comprehensive welfare programs) - Rosales (pictured here conceding defeat last night) did not have a chance.

Therefore, here’s to Hugo Chávez: the duly re-elected president (for life?) of Venezuela, undisputed heir to Fidel Castro and perennial pain in the ass to President George W. Bush and his successors….

NOTE: Henceforth, I shall refrain from calling Chávez a “Castro wannabe”. After all, his regional and international influence has already surpassed that which Castro exercised at the zenith of his reign. And, having won two democratic elections at home, Chávez has earned the right to be distinguished - as a benign demagogue, from Castro – who was never anything but a ruthless dictator for whom democratic elections were the plague.

Hugo Chavez

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Comments

WeblogBahamas.com December 4, 2006 at 2:23 pm

So when your economic policies keep people in poverty, you use the resources of the state and whatever else you can confiscate to buy votes, and this legitimises you?
ALH ipinions December 4, 2006 at 3:55 pm

WB

If you regard President George W. Bush as the legitimate president of the United States (as I infer from your previous comments you do), then you must respect Chavez as the legitimate president of Venezuela, or risk being called a hypocrite.

After all, there are many informed people (including Americans) whose criticisms of Bush mirror your insinuations against Chavez.
Anonymous December 8, 2006 at 4:41 am

It is an absolute shame and utter disgrace that people like yourself whos ancestors suffered so much humiliation and expliotation under the very imperialist powers whom who so gleefully defend, would try to demonize someone like Hugo Chavez, who, while he is no saint, at least have the guts to stand up for the least fortunate in his country… but, again, as is so true of all house slaves, they seem to forget about the ones in the field.