Hugo Chavez seems to have taken note of his protégé’s unexpectedly rapid progress down a parallel road and its potential for obstructing Hugo’s own aspirations. After his public exclamation, “Barak Obama is an ignoramus!”, Chavez seems to have changed his strategy for dealing with the current devil of the Estados Unidos de Norteamerica. He went out of his way to insert himself into photo ops with his protégé for the world media at the Organization of American States meeting. Although Hugo is a skilled media manipulator, this behavior at an OAS meeting is out of character for him.
The idea of a serious rival from the U. S. had probably never occurred to Chavez. He undoubtedly had given much thought to the eventual clash with the United States; but he didn’t expect this particular kind of a problem, or quite so soon. The cushion of time that Chavez thought he had for creating and leading The Union of Socialist South American Republics seems to have evaporated. Perhaps the sight of Obama rubbing elbows with Chavez’s fellow Latin American communist leaders has now sent a chill down Hugo’s robust spine.
Observers believe that Presidente Hugo Chavez has few problems at home that he can’t handle at present. He has changed the term limit law, so his “Presidente for Life” campaign is all but complete. His technique for diminishing currently elected political rivals, by changing the law to administer their cities or districts at the national level, seems to be a masterstroke (President Obama, are you watching?). The only good news in these federal takeovers is for his rival politicians; they may at least dodge the bullet—literally. Hugo’s remaining rivals, however, still have to keep their bullet-dodging skills honed.
In the international arena, Hugo has performed better than expected. He has done those things within his political skill and his stature to ingratiate Venezuela to the old-line communist states. However, with the reduced crude oil prices recently, Venezuela has considerably less quid with which to pro quo. Until oil prices soar again, Chavez’s best international asset may be his skill in arousing the latent class warfare feelings of the masses, particularly to promote hatred of capitalism and personal freedom (and their former poster child, the United States).
Obama’s three-part initiative in his quest for “President for Life” has had a smooth start. First, he has moved control of the 2010 census to one of his political operatives in the White House. Second, he has his ACORN organization, with its proven record of voter registration fraud, contracted as census takers. Third, his Congress will soon float an “immigration reform” law designed to buy 12 to 16 million new Democratic voters, at an economically attractive price of amnesty plus fast-path citizenship.
Barak Obama also has little to fear from rival politicians. Unlike the Venezuelan environment, the U. S. has not yet jailed any Obama political opponent. In fact, so far as we know, Obama’s Head Procurer, Rahm Emanuel, has not sent a single severed horse’s head or dead fish to any prominent conservative political figure. For now, Obama seems to have problems at home under almost as rigid control as does Chavez.
At the same time Barak Obama has proven to be as good as, or possibly even better than, Hugo Chavez at manipulating gullible or corrupt media personnel. The best measure of Obama’s success at orchestrating the press is his personal popularity versus the popularity of his policies. Another, somewhat less reliable, measure is the emerging clamor among the media for rapid immersion of the U. S. into full-fledged, European-style socialism. Because most journalists have already admitted their liberal outlook this particular benchmark may indicate just a difference in emphasis.
Obama’s international efforts have been uneven and more anemic than those of Chavez. During his presidential campaign he looked like an ascending international star. But once in office his star power seemed to poop out, and he remains in an international batting slump. His current approach, patronizing world leaders with whatever they might ask for, may improve his self-esteem.
However, three critical tasks that are necessary for any world-class Marxist / Socialist leader still remain to be completed in both Venezuela and the United States. First, the government must have absolute control of the press / media. Second, the (economic and political power of the) middle class must be eliminated. Third, a critical mass of voters must be enticed to accept government as their religion.
Venezuela does not have nearly as strong a free press tradition as does the United States (undoubtedly a gross understatement). Chavez seems to have effectively muffled the media in Venezuela, although a quick scan of the Internet verifies that his opposition is not yet totally silenced. Hugo will unlikely be able to shut down communications as tightly as North Korea and Iran have done; but he probably has now or will soon gain firm control of the information flow to a critical mass of Venezuela’s population.
In the U. S., opinion polls have confirmed that a majority of journalists / commentators / editors have distinctly liberal political outlooks. Barak Obama has thereby already corralled much of the power of the press, thanks to a journalistically corrupt media. His ability to eventually silence the remaining fraction of objective journalists, as well as the relatively small number of political commentators opposed to his policies, is looking better all the time.
For the middle class problem Chavez does have a distinct advantage over Obama because of Venezuela’s much smaller middle class. But his tendency to overreach has been a big obstacle to success in this campaign. Hugo’s price controls ran aground when the prices were set too low to sustain production, thereby causing goods to disappear from markets. The middle and upper classes may have a large tolerance for an increasing burden when it is “to benefit the poor”; but when milk for their children is not available, they push back. Hugo’s challenge in eliminating the middle class is to exercise patience, something foreign to him.
Obama’s lack of patience, like Chavez, may prove to be his biggest obstacle in finishing off the U. S. middle class. But it appears that this middle class is apathetic and truly vulnerable, suffering from extended affluence and good living. Obama therefore has his Democratic Party proceeding full steam with plans for staggeringly high taxes, via the “cap and trade” and “health care reform” initiatives, to debase the currency and bankrupt the middle class.
On the government-as-religion front, Chavez is becoming increasingly vociferous. He has long implied that his interpretations of Jesus and Christianity are the only valid ones. More recently he floated a trial balloon about taking over the Catholic Church in Venezuela, making himself Archbishop and members of his administration the Bishops.
Although Obama has been too busy to jump into the religion issue with both feet, he is nonetheless well prepared. His twenty-year association with Black Liberation Theology enables him to speak soothingly about the perfect marriage of Marxism and religious conviction.
At this point in the race to become the ruler of The Union of North and South American Socialist Republics, it might just boil down to which one of these political twins can provide the better Marxist true believer performance, necessary for allegiance from like-minded leftist dictators.
It has been said that there was only one true believer of Marxism ever: Karl Marx. But it’s more likely that Marx was well aware that his pronouncements were pure nonsense and that he was just selling the sizzle and the aroma of a steak that that he knew to be dry, unpalatable and inedible. The point is moot, though, because it appears that political correctness still demands every aspiring liberal / socialist leader pay the appropriate lip service to Marxism, e.g., Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Castro, Mugabe, etc.
In his true believer role, Chavez has been conservative and conventional. His public communications appear to be authentic recycled Soviet propaganda. He is also quick to denounce any and all countries that have yet to implement communist dictatorships. When the leftist president of Honduras was removed from office and deported for defying both the National Congress and the Supreme Court of Honduras (another “Presidente for Life” overreach casualty), Chavez was first to denounce this action against a fellow Marxist.
Barak Obama in his short political career has put on a better true believer performance than Hugo Chavez. Each of his presidential campaign speeches had a “look and feel” resemblance to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in “The Communist Manifesto”: see wealth redistribution, capitalist greed and corruption, from the able to the needy, etc. His policies and actions appear to be guided by Marx’ prescriptions in “Das Kapital”: see bank takeovers, financial regulations and controls, salary caps, etc. Obama’s carefully scripted “town hall meetings” are opportunities for him to continue repeating his denunciations of “upper class greed” and to aggravate class envies. It was also illuminating that Obama was almost as quick as Chavez in denouncing Hondura’s Legislature and Supreme Court.
It will be interesting when the oddsmakers in Las Vegas and London get around to posting the initial Chavez versus Obama odds. My bet is that Obama will be the early favorite, because of his superior scheming, his fanatic followers’ fatter fortunes, and his serpentine eloquence in proselytizing for “church of the state”.
