How much will President Obama’s handshake with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez cost the U.S.? Despite Chavez’ bombastic rhetoric about his socialist revolution, the reality is that Venezuela is going broke. While the president’s overtures to Chavez at the recent Summit of the Americas have been greeted ecstatically by many in the media, there has been little attention as to why Chavez may so desperately crave rapprochement. (And guess what? It appears to have nothing to do with Obama’s politics.) What has also been absent from press coverage is any perspective on just how our relations with Venezuela became so frosty in the first place. The implication is that George W. was just a big old grump and couldn’t get along with his neighbors.
Surprise! Even the notoriously friendly Bill Clinton ran afoul of Chavez. When Clinton visited Columbia in 2000 to bolster U.S. support for that struggling country’s war on drug cartels, Chavez warned against intervention and refused to sign Plan Columbia, all the while openly backing the insurgents.
Before hailing Obama’s handshake with Chavez as a feat of statesmanship, perhaps we need a reality check. Why has the U.S. fallen out with Venezuela? Is it just our aversion to being branded a terrorist or murderous state? Or is it Chavez’ attack on the democratic institutions of Venezuela that has soured relations with this ever-more-powerful ruler? - FOX News StoryNote the handshakes. Is this some brotherhood shake or something? Doesn't look much like a Presidential Handshake.
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