Thank You, President Obama, for Shaking Hands with President Chavez

The whole world was watching when President Obama shook hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Most Americans, along with most people around the world, want the U.S. to try to get along with other countries, treat their leaders with respect, address disagreements through dialogue and negotiation, and look for areas of potential cooperation with countries with which we have disagreements on other issues.

But Republican Senator John Ensign wasn't happy.

"I think it was irresponsible for the president to be seen kind of laughing and joking with Hugo Chavez," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich complained that by shaking Chavez' hand while smiling Obama had helped cause Eduardo Galeano's "Open Veins of Latin America" - the book Chavez gave Obama - to soar on best-seller lists.

The basic fact that the Right won't acknowledge is this: we just had an election a few months ago, and Americans voted for the guy who wanted to talk, not the guy who wanted to keep pounding the table. And the U.S. thaw with Venezuela has already yielded results. Venezuela is preparing to send its Ambassador back to Washington. The U.S. and Venezuela are increasing their cooperation in combating drug trafficking. And Venezuela is increasing its rhetorical pressure on FARC insurgents in Colombia to get talks moving with the Colombian government.

The right-wing hysteria about President Obama's handshake with President Chavez is kind of a brush-back pitch. The Right is worried by the widespread belief that President Obama will do what he promised. And the fact is that the American public, far from being scandalized by President Obama's diplomatic outreach, supports Obama's moves and wants him to do more. Four in five Americans supported President Obama's lifting of restrictions on the travel of Cuban-Americans to Cuba. Seventy percent of Americans think we should all be allowed to travel to Cuba. Sixty-nine percent of Americans - including 57% of Republicans - want the U.S. to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba.

And Congress is starting to move as well: the "Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act" already has 124 co-sponsors in the House and 20 in the Senate.

The Right is worried not that President Obama's diplomatic outreach to former U.S. adversaries might fail, but that it might succeed. Because if President Obama succeeds in improving relations with former adversaries, that's going to change American politics in a way that the Right isn't going to like.

Imagine if President Obama succeeds in improving relations with Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Iran, for example, to the point where reports of cooperation between the U.S. and these countries become kind of routine. It's quite plausible. The U.S. and Iran are already cooperating in Afghanistan again. Ho-hum.

Then the Right won't be able to use the leaders of these countries as bogeys to frighten anyone.

And then political debate in the United States will focus much more on domestic economic reform. People won't get as excited about what the leaders of former adversaries are saying, because the U.S. won't be building them up as bogeys. Instead, Americans will be talking more about issues like universal health care and guaranteeing the rights of workers to organize unions, issues where Democratic positions, such as having a public health insurance option for all Americans and passing the Employee Free Choice Act are overwhelmingly popular.

President Obama noted that many Latin American leaders "talked about how Cuban doctors have dispersed throughout the region, and their countries depend on them," implying that the U.S. could be doing that too. It's a great idea. Imagine if the U.S., Venezuela and Cuba were cooperating to extend health care to poor people throughout the Americas - including the United States. It would be a very different world.

Comments

[follow the money]

This big world of ours..

There are many different kinds of people, from all over the world,
correct?

People around the world, are basically the same, but have different cultures,
religions, and beliefs.
If you meet someone on the street, how do you approach someone?
People will shy away from you, if you show them
arrogance, hate, fear, and discrimination.

You must learn to respect other people.
That way, you can build upon that,
you can show that when you really mean it from the heart,
and you show how to respect one another,
you can also trust people again. Respect, is something that will take time,
and also patience, to be earned.
respect one another, and try to be good to each other..

People will learn that you will be remembered for the good in your heart.

just a little something for all
people..

for everybody to think about..

[AliMB]

"The Right is worried not that President Obama's diplomatic outreach to former U.S. adversaries might fail, but that it might succeed. Because if President Obama succeeds in improving relations with former adversaries, that's going to change American politics in a way that the Right isn't going to like."

The passage above is representative of a generally paltry analysis vis-à-vis the criticism leveled at the President's Trinidad trip. I for one think that President Obama managed the Summit very well, but some of the critiques towards his interactions with Hugo Chavez have merit. I believe even the President recognizes this, which is why his subsequent interactions differed from the initial run-in with the Venezuelan leader.

If the President succeeds in changing the anti-democratic and anti-American behavior of Hugo Chavez (or that of any government), then he will be praised across the political spectrum. To assume that all Republicans want diplomacy to fail is a cartoonish description of legitimate arguments. Save for a few hard core wingers, no one is against the concept of negotiations so long as it is results-based.

I think the gist of the recent critiques is that 'style' is no substitute for substance; changes will not be reached thru superficial gestures such as handshakes. Those who think otherwise are as woefully ignorant as the ultra-partisans who have labeled the President an appeaser for shaking hands with another head of state.

[GYRainforest]

I am South American, but not Venezuelan. I am shocked at how ignorant many Americans are about world issues; especially those of the right. They are so parochial in their views, an damn hypocrites for Christians. The world sees them for who they really are, and are turned off by their Christian missionaries; who teach culture rather than Christ.

President Obama acted very wisely in Trinidad. His manner at the summit has earned him lots of respect in South and Central America as well as the Caribbean.

Bush Cheyney & Co doctrine of bullying others to respect you is grossly ineffective and stupid. This policy only results in other countries pretending to respect you while they secretly despises you, and plan for your downfall. thank God for the new breath of fresh air, which will make America seen as strong once again.

[medici]

Please allow me to apologize for the "Ugly American". The last presidential administration was a very strong example of it.

[AnnGardner]

I don't recall much republican outrage back in the early 1970's when Nixon was schmoozing with Leonid Brezhnev during detente. They understood then that it was diplomacy.

[LeftRight]

And don't forget Nixon sending Kissinger to China, and then following him!

[LuxSF]

Dear Mr. Naiman,

I hope both you and President Obama understand that these "Cuban Doctors" have become more of a political instrument in order to perpetuate Chavez's rule in Venezuela. They are not better than Venezuelan doctors but they have been used by the Cuban regime to help Chavez accomplish their goals.

Believe me, I have nothing against bringing healthcare to our poorest "barrios"; with that said one must be careful and try not to be superficial in the analysis. It is very unfortunate though that while there are many Cuban doctors trying to practice "preventive medicine" many excellent Venezuelan doctors have to work with their nails in our hospitals in order to render medical attention because our hospitals are in horrible shape. If you visit the little medical dispensaries that the government built 5 years ago for the Cuban doctors, you will see that they are falling apart because there is no continuity. They served they purpose during elections, and that's it!

[RobertNaiman]

I never heard anyone claim that Cuban doctors were "better" than Venezuelan doctors, in the sense of being technically more proficient. What I heard from Venezuelans was that when the Venezuelan government wanted to send doctors into the barrios, Venezuelan doctors wouldn't go. That, of course, was at the time that they started the program. Since then, the government has been working to create a new generation of Venezuelan doctors who want to serve the poor. I met some of these medical students in Venezuela - students from the poorer areas. My understanding is that the goal of the Venezuelan government is to train enough Venezuelan doctors who are committed to working for the poor so that they won't need the Cuban doctors anymore, and the Cuban doctors can go somewhere else to help. I'm certainly not under any illusion that Venezuela is utopia, even only with respect to health care, but I think you have to concede that they set out with a goal of providing health care to the whole population, and have made significant progress towards that goal, and that previous Venezuelan governments didn't do that, and that poor people in Venezuela appreciate that. My memory is that in recent Venezuelan election campaigns, the opposition promised not to abolish the social programs, so perhaps that is some kind of definitive verdict on whether these programs are real or not.

[popsicle dc]

"What I heard from Venezuelans was that when the Venezuelan government wanted to send doctors into the barrios, Venezuelan doctors wouldn't go. "

Robert,
to understand this you would have to go back to the creation of Mision Barrio Adentro. Barrio Adentro was created as an addition to the Venezuelan Gov. social programs, not to replace them. It was oriented to allow the poor access to preventive medicine, which would be given by cuban doctors, while regular medicine (treatment­s/doctors/­surgery ) would be given by venezuelan doctors. It was supposed to be that way for the initial 2 years and then the gov. would create a "communitary health school" that would be a part of the Health Ministry. That hasn't quite happened yet.
Venezuelan doctors don't go to Barrio adentro because the ministry requires them to be attending patients in the hospitals. And they're doing that.
...it doesn't hurt to check your facts before writing your comments..­.

[Justina]

"President Obama noted that many Latin American leaders "talked about how Cuban doctors have dispersed throughout the region, and their countries depend on them," implying that the U.S. could be doing that too. It's a great idea. Imagine if the U.S., Venezuela and Cuba were cooperating to extend health care to poor people throughout the Americas - including the United States. It would be a very different world."

As an American living in Venezuela, which has free medical, dental and eye care for all its citizens, some provided by excellent Cuban medical personnel, I can attest to the effectiveness of the Cuban-Venezuelan partnership in providing health care. American citizens are desperately in need of similar programs. Perhaps if the U.S. dares to cooperate with Cuba and Venezuela in providing health care to the needy, the U.S. will invite Cuban doctors to assist our health care deprived citizens, who now number some 50 million people.

There are many programs here in Venezuela which we. would do well to imitate, but the availability of free health care is a paramount need in the U.S..

[slvrfox857]

Listening to Joe Scarborough this morning, one would think Obama sold the US to Nicaragua because the president didn't respond to this "communist dictator who has a great deal of blood on his hands." Yes, Ortega led a revolution in Nicaragua in the 80s, but in the 00s, he was duly elected president of his country. Silence in response to his words, and working together for a better relationship and a more peaceful world are not weakness. Bullies are cowards, and hair trigger tempers and knee jerk reactions to taunts from former enemies are the easy path. I'm glad the president shook the hand of Chavez, and I hope the lesson he takes from the book is that not all the world sees the US as we see ourselves.

[steamboat]

I have no problem with the President shaking hands with Chavez . Who did it for one reason. He wanted to try to impress his citizens back in Venezuela where Obama is more popular then Chavez. But I do wish you writers and critics would have pursued Obama's complaint about, "everybody here (OAS Conference) is asking us to lift the embargo to Cuba, but I'd like you to all complain about Cuba restricting its citizens from traveling". Yet you all ignored that. Why?