If you haven't heard of Barack Obama's newest endorsement, you're seriously missing out! Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave his blessing to the 44th president and he should be proud. I'm not at all insinuating that this election and the one to be held later this year in Venezuela are similar at all, but when a Latin American strongman who built his political career and government policies on class warfare rhetoric praises the president of the United States and bashes Mitt Romney, it's certainly newsworthy.
Indeed, although the media are not trumpeting this fact, Chavez equated his race with that of the President Obama calling Mitt Romney a callous member of the capitalist elite. Of course, it should go without saying that Chavez's program of hope and change and left that country hopelessly shortchanged. Under the Chavez regime, there's been an increase in inflation by 27.5 percent, aggravated by a deluge of government spending. And then there's the whole discouragement of private investment thing, which Chavez's nationalizing of industry has tended to do.
With both chief executives championing failed economic philosophies and class envy, it would only be polite for Obama to send Chavez to a thank you note for his words of support. In the unlikely event the media actually cover this story, perhaps Romney should do so as well.
From AP:
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has signaled a preference in the U.S. presidential campaign by comparing Mitt Romney to his own challenger.
Chavez, who is up for re-election a month before U.S. President Barack Obama, has in recent weeks expressed a clear preference for the man currently in the White House.
In a campaign speech Saturday night, Chavez equated the agenda of his challenger, Henrique Capriles, with that of Romney, saying both men represent the callously selfish capitalist elite.
Chavez claims Capriles, a moderate former governor, is trying to trick Venezuelans into believing he genuinely cares about the poor, the core of Venezuelan president’s constituency.
“I believe the person to best explain the loser’s agenda isn’t Barack Obama but rather Romney, because it’s the extreme right-wing agenda that borders on the fascism of the United States,” Chavez told tens of thousands of supporters in the western city of Maracaibo.
“In the end, it’s the same project,” Chavez said, referring to Obama as “a good guy.”
