Lending Hugo a Hand

O'Grady: Americas Summit—Missed Opportunity - WSJ.com:

"If President Barack Obama's goal at the fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend was to be better liked by the region's dictators and left-wing populists than his predecessor George W. Bush, the White House can chalk up a win. If, on the other hand, the commander in chief sought to advance American ideals, things didn't go well."...

Mr. Obama had to know that the meeting is used by the region's politicians to rally the base back home by showing that they can put Uncle Sam in his place. Realizing this, the American president might have arrived at the Port of Spain prepared to return their volley...

[Instead] He only promised to talk some more, a strategy that will offend no one and accomplish nothing. It is a strategy that sums up, to date, Mr. Obama's foreign policy for the region.

The sad fact is that President Obama seems to have such a deficit of understanding of the import of his own office that he truly doesn't appreciate how much credence he lent to thugs like Chavez and Ortega by chumming around with them in Trinidad and Tobago. We know he's good at apologizing for us while traveling overseas. It would be nice to know if anything will ever move him to defend us.