It is popular among certain groups of intelligentsia to malign the United States or previous administrations and that's fine for them to do as private citizens. No nation is perfect and we have plenty of skeletons in our closet, however I do not want to see my President, the leader of the United States going into other countries and apologizing for the previous administration. That's airing dirty laundry that doesn't need to be aired and it's taking a pot-shot at someone who is no longer a threat to your own policies. It has no place on the international stage. If a Democrat wants to stand up in Congress and say they hate all Republicans, fine - I'll applaud their honesty if nothing else. But to have the sitting President go in front of the leaders of other nations and basically say "hey that guy I replaced was an idiot and I'm sorry you had to deal with him" isn't being politically savvy. Its not a way to get other leaders on our side. It doesn't buy political points with anyone. All it does is make it look like you cannot get past the previous administration and are more interested in pointing fingers than getting results. If behind closed doors you say it in the course of negotiations, that's fine. Stating it in a speech is amateurish and childish.
When is someone going to do something positive with South America? Here's a quick catch-up to those who haven't been paying any attention to our fellow Americans south of the isthmus. Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is more than just a petty dictator who hates America and will malign the United States to anyone willing to listen: he has dreams of turning South America into one unified government under his despotic rule.
He came to power in Venezuela after failing in a coup to take over the nation in 1992. He then went to visit his friend and colleague in Cuba, Fidel Castro and came back with a number of Cubans loyal to him. They became citizens of Venezuela and through the use of the Bolivarian Circles voted him into office in 1998 mostly by strong-arming those who weren't going to vote for him, much like ACORN does here in the United States, only more successfully. The same tactics have been used in his "re-elections" that good ole' Jimmy Carter "certified".
The official story however is that he worked hard after being released from prison to earn the trust of the public. He created the Fifth Republic Movement on the ideas of basically dismantling then recreating a new republic. He claimed that the constitution at the time preserved the two parties in control of Venezuela. Basically he took "hope and change" to an extreme and used community organizations organized by people from Cuba get himself into the top spot.
Once in office, his Bolivarian Circles became his grassroots organization: they found his political opponents who he then suppressed and denied services to. They intimidated the politically ambiguous into voting for him and act as a sort of Hitler Youth for his administration. He started making overtures to other governments and created the Union of South American Nations which he rightfully thinks will be the first step to creating a single continent-wide country. He has also been working with FARC to undermine the governments in other South American nations that are not on good terms with him. His allies in Ecuador and Brazil are particularly stringent in their support of their fellow socialist/communist. At one point, Venezuela and Ecuador had their military units stationed along Columbia's border as a threat.
But wait! you say - isn't Columbia pretty much owned and run by the Drug Cartels? Not really, not anymore. Presidente Alvaro Uribe of Columbia has been rather successful in driving them out or lowering their influence, so much so that much of Mexico's problems stem from the fact that Columbia is no longer a safe haven for them run by a puppet government. Columbia is perhaps our staunchest ally south of the border at this point.
So why should we care?
Draw the connections. Venezuela has ties directly and through Cuba to Russia and China and therefore to North Korea. As a member of OPEC, Venezuela also has ties to Iran, Lybia and Saudi Arabia and therefore to Hamas. Hugo Chavez has been very vocal in his support of FARC and has 'demanded' that the US and the UN Human Rights Council removes them off their Terrorist Watch lists. Venezuela also undermines the United States' foreign policy at every opportunity at one point even calling the sitting President of the US the Devil himself.
Good thing President Obama apologized to the world then, isn't it? Never mind that the alliance is forming right under our very noses of a global network of terrorist supporters. Never mind that the very act of apologizing places you in a position of weakness. Never mind that because of the still tunnel-vision aspect of foreign policy North Korea, who has nukes and missiles to put them on, has been relegated to be dealt with by Russia and China who are both supporters of North Korea.
Our enemies are circling and forming alliances. They are approaching foreign policy with a global view and unless and until we do the same and assume a position of strength, we will continue to set ourselves up for failure. If we're lucky in another fifty years, historians will be wondering if President Obama turned a blind eye to what was happening so that we'd have an excuse to enter World War III just like our historians wonder the same about President Truman and World War II.
