July 1, 2009

The coup in Honduras under other circumstances would be a blow against democracy. But what do you say about a president who violates his country’s constitution, Supreme Court rulings and Congress in order to keep himself in office? You look for the fingerprints of the Castro brothers, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, all of whom quickly rushed to the aide of now exiled President Manuel Zelaya.

Chavez and his dictator friends were clearly behind the move to establish another front in their continuing war against the United States. President Obama denounced the coup, as did the dictators, which is interesting, given his timidity over Iran’s elections and subsequent beating and killing of protestors.

Elections sometimes produce tyrants. Hitler was elected, as were Chavez and Ortega. But they quickly moved to undermine the process of elections and sought to rule for life. People are known by the company they keep and President Obama would do well not to keep the company of dictators who are the enemies of America.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.