The NRO dug something up from Obama’s Cairo Speech:
This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.
Once again, Obama says one thing yet does another. The Obama administration continues to use rhetoric citing the restoration of constitutionality in Honduras yet they are not under military rule. They are under the rule of a President, backed by the Honduran Congress and the Supreme Court. The Congress and the Supreme Court acted on behalf of the people to protect their constitution and they used the military to do so.
“A coup is a political move,” the lawyer, Col. Herberth Bayardo Inestroza Membreño, said Tuesday night in an interview. “It requires the armed forces to assume power over the country, which didn’t happen, and it has to break the rule of law, which didn’t happen either.”
The Honduran government is in complete control which means there was no coup – it was more like an a forced impeachment.
So the effect of Obama’s position on this issue is to turn Honduras into a dictatorship, like Venezuela. Why would he want this? Obama is clearly not concerned about the facts of Zelaya’s ousting, but more about setting precedents for who knows what reason. Honduras acted to prevent a dictatorship, and Obama’s actions could reverse that. I know that other countries share his view on this, and while that bothers me, what bothers me more is that my own president is on the side of Chavez which is always a questionable position to take.