The act that Obama put on in front of the press about how people who wanted the US to actually help stop this coup rather than aid and abet it on was absolutely disgusting to watch, Obama accused others of being hypocrites for wanting the US government to withdraw its back handed endorsement of the coup. But he is lying that the US has its hands tied and that it was noninvolved in helping the Honduran military carry out this coup. We trained them and have had the coziest relationship possible for these criminals for many decades now.

And I guess we are all supposed to forget how the US is expanding and planning to occupy up to 7 military bases in Colombia, also? The Honduran coup was merely the beginning part of a US offensive to roll back Latin American rebellion against US control over their countries. Barack Obama is playing the role of Bush-lite and continuing the same Bush policies in Latin America behind a big wave of smoke screen and deception. Time to call Barack Obama on the carpet for being a big liar.

What a schmuck Obama is.
I watched his arrogant, ignorant remarks, when asked about it in Mexico, whining that those countries down there are always complaining about US meddling, are hypocites for asking the US to participate with the rest of the world in renouncing the coup. Since the US trained the coup participants and is most likely pulling the strings to prevent the rising crimson tide, not to mention its present aggressions in Columbia, Obama is unlikely to be "pressured"--especially from the progressive caucus-that unlike the minority Blue dogs who are setting policy, are actually whipped and threatened by the Administration.
Don't think we can't see what a schmuck you are Obama, with your orchestrated town meeting and pre-selected questions, you ain't nothing but Bush warmed over.

For clarity, the actual quote was:

"The same critics who say that the United States has not intervened enough in Honduras are the same people who say that we’re always intervening and the Yankees need to get out of Latin America. You can’t have it both ways…If these critics think that it’s appropriate for us to suddenly act in ways that in every other context they consider inappropriate, then I think what that indicates is, is that maybe there’s some hypocrisy involved in their approach to US-Latin America relations that certainly is not going to guide my administration’s policies."

- Obama

It was crass, mocking, and insulting statement. It is one of those deliberately-disingenuous, condescending, tuurning-of-an-argument-on-it's-head that is supremely intelligence insulting to all those he calls "critics" - that's you and me.

Go to hell, Obama!

The same people who celebrate the Honduran coup, are the same people who would overthrow Obama if he wasn't already doing their bidding. No one is going to cry when they turf is weak ass out the door of the White House.

He is beginning to resemble one of those weak ineffectual emperors that brought the Roman Empire to its close.

This Harvard educated Miguel Mouse of a President has become the laughing stock of the Mexican, Central American and South American educated classes. Their mirth is patent when they are quoted in the various television news programs.

By the way, thank you for quoting the "hypocrites" thing - it was something to see. I heard commentary on the Azteca network out of Mexico, and later on the Univision coverage out of South America that made sport of the man's apparent inability to see the difference between the intervention us brownies remember - the contras in Nicaragua, Negroponte's support for the School of the Americas murderers in the region, the mess in El Salvador - and moral suasion and/or economic pressure, withdrawal of military bases - all of which would be support of constitutional government as opposed to our historical and interventonist support for far right criminal governments imposed by military thugs.

To conflate the two really exposes the shallowness of the man when he thinks and speaks on his feet.

But how to expect the President to support a foreign constitution that needed tweaking - which was all Zalaya had proposed - when he won't even defend ours?

Maybe he needs to take a third oath of office. The first two sure haven't taken.

Is there a single arena where he hasn't been a resounding failure?
This from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/opinion/12iht-edweisbrot.html

Mr. Obama, You Do Have a Button to Reverse the Coup in Honduras.

Obama doesn't give a flip about restoring the Zelaya government. As far as he and his cronies are concerned, there will be no more Venezuelas and Bolivias. Once we have been victorious over the wogs in Afghanistan, the spics will be next to suffer the Wrath of God delivered by his earthly agent and warrior prince, the United States.

Yes, it's true that Obama has a button to press Micheletti; he ven has several buttons; but either he is giving-in too easily to the conservatives among both Demcrats and Republicans, or he is too hard-pressed elsewhere to think clearly about Honduras.

Regarding Kenya, we should not be fooled by the idea that the threat of cancellation related to visas in general and not only diplomatic visas. The reality is that, just as in the case of Honduras, the 'State Department will undercut the impact of its sanction (if it has not already done so!) by downplaying it and indicating [to Moi Kibaki] that there would be no follow-up'. Raila Odinga has, to indicate his displeasure at the pussyfooting by Hillary, told her in no uncertain terms that "we want equal partnership; we don't want you to overlord it on us".

Listen also to the cross-purpose verbal diplomacy coming out of Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and today Nigeria, to understand how past American deception is triggering a severe backlash in Africa as much as elsewhere in the world. Only in India has some measure of respect for America outlived the last eight years' war crimes and their sequels that continue to plague the Obama administration.

As much as CD irks me by failing to always be the website of my dreams, I have to hand this to them:

They have kept up the pressure and the awareness on the Honduran Coup situation far, FAR better than most other sites on the "left progressive liberal" blogosphere.

Here's a link with some info on the attitude UNASUR is adopting toward the criminal regime (the Honduras bit is toward the end, the bulk is on U.S. military build-up in Columbia -which is also important, of course):

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4717

I'd recommend that site: venezuelanalysis.com in general to anyone interested in S. American affairs as well.

Anybody have some other sites (in English) they'd recommend fo more direct Honduras, and "Latin American" as well?

Love to have'em.

-matti.

Obama has no interest in reinstating Zelaya, unless he will agree to become another Washington puppet. Obama's administration has some of the same scum who kept Honduras safe for the its oppressive elite back in the '80's when it was a US base for fighting the Sandinistas of Nicaragua.

Any mumbling words from Obama against the coupe are insincere, and made under pressure from an OAS which is unified against the coupe.

Robert Naiman notes how the Obama administration's State Department is unwilling to use the threat of visa bans and other sanctions to force the coup regime in Honduras to support Costa Rica's initiative to return Zeyala to power. He asks "Why is that?"

I think a lot of it has to do with exactly who inside the Obama cabinet is really in charge of US foreign policy towards Latin America in general, and Honduras in particular.

The military coup ringleaders are grads of the School of the Americas network, assets of the Defense Intelligence Agency and/or CIA. Following Zeyala's ouster, the Micheletti coup regime has apparently hired a prominent lobbyist and former vigorous partisan backer of Hillary Clinton to run their PR operations inside the DC beltway.

What did Secretary of Defense Robert Gates know about the Honduran coup, and when did he know it?

Why should it be a big surprize that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might apply an inconsistent double standard towards sanctions on Kenya and sanctions on Honduras?

Barack Obama is largely silent about all this because restoring the democratically elected president of Honduras to power might potentially expose a major, embarassing internal rift behind-closed-doors within the Obama White House.

Yes, it's all against an historical backdrop of shameful, covert US support of military coups in Central and South America over the decades.

But from a north American perspective, it's also very much about civilian control over the US military/national security network abroad, and deciphering who's really calling the shots inside Washington, among President Obama's team-of-rivals insider team.

Bill from Saginaw

Well, you see, ah, um, we have to clean up Kenya. That's kind of personal. However, Hillary has some friends ($$$$) down in Honduras that own a lot of delicate, exotic, tropical fruit farms (banana plantations). We don't want to upset that bananacart, now do we? We are making a fine omelette! Remember, the lower the wages for Honduran workers, the more workers our friends can hire and the more job security these workers have (Not even the Chinese can pick bananas that cheap!). See, we're helping Honduras! Have another banana.

My first impression of the Obama maladministration's position vis-à-vis the Honduras coup was that of "praising with faint damns". And it's only become more apparent as events unfold.

Team Obama's first public response to the coup was to cautiously and informally affirm the fact of the coup, though striking a Pontius Pilate pose: limiting official US intervention to urging and facilitating various diplomatic responses, while substantially remaining neutral.

The US did cancel the visas of Honduran officials, a token diplomatic finger-shaking at best, and made public statements affirming the legitimacy of Zalaya's presidency and formally disavowing the coup government.

The US briefly jogged in place during the period when it seemed as if Oscar Arias might be able to obtain a provisional peaceful resolution, provided the coup leaders would effectively renounce their asserted justification to seizing government by force.

It was at least plausible that the US was using the threat of real legislative sanctions resulting from a formal US declaration that a coup had indeed occurred as leverage to persuade the Honduran coup leaders to reconcile with Zelaya.

Be that as it may, as the Honduran military authorities crowded Zelaya to the end of the limb, the US government reversed gears, shifting to the present strategy of nibbling like beavers at the base of the limb by essentially blaming the victim and retroactively legitimizing the coup.

While the breeze from Washington DC turns increasingly frigid towards Zelaya and the Honduran people, Clintonista hawks swoop down to harass his cause.

And Madam Secretary herself slashed at Zelaya as if he were a piñata as he twists slowly in the wind, calling Zelaya "reckless" for daring to take independent action to reverse a heinous wrong, and in the process jolting the US from dozing on the pot.

With friends like these...

This trope, incidentally, exactly mirrors a pattern in Obama's remarks, a rhetorical do-si-do with three elements:

1.) Make seemingly straightforward comment;
2.) Waffle, especially if comment is challenged;
3.) Walk back seemingly straightforward comment.

(No wonder Biden is such a good fit; this triple-tap is a staple of his repertoire too.)

Obama's dismal attempt counter-bluster in Mexico was shamefully disingenuous and reprehensible. Terms like "crass" and "insulting" also apply. And it's not accidental that such bully-pulpit snark, used to great effect by Teddy Roosevelt, resonates best with the wingnut and yahoo galleries.

Meanwhile, Madam Secretary evokes her "It Takes a Village" synthetic humanity by pontificating in support of human rights in AFRICON.

This is government by technocrats; their Achilles' heel is that they are skilled in statecraft, but utterly lacking in statesmanship.

· Yr Obd't Servant

Narconews has broken the story that the US still funds the Honduran golpistas, "Records Demonstrate that the Secretary [HRC] Has Hands-On Control of the Fund that Gave $6.5 Million to the Regime After the June 28 Coup." And more info is provided about the ties between the MMC and the Honduran golpistas, which HRC and Obama INCREASED. Folks should also read the related item at Venezuelanalysis.com regarding the recent UNASUR summit and the unfolding Colombian crisis being engineeered by Obama and Chavez's astute analysis of the overall situation, as well as reactions from other UNASUR members.

It should no be very clear that the coup was funded and encouraged by the US Empire. The event also provides additional evidence of the continuity/sameness between BushCo and ObamaInc. Obama is just another Simon Legree, or a more articulate blackwashed version of Bush/Clinton/Bush.

I find it best to assume that any statement from the Executive is a lie. Any truth it may contain must be verified by multiple non-US Propaganda System sources.