Obama Won the First Round

Poor Hugo Chavez! While contemplating the first measures taken by the U.S. President Barack Obama, the populist Venezuelan leader and his disciples in Latin America must be thinking: “Against George W. Bush we were better”.

In his first days in the presidency, Obama ordained the closing of the prison of the naval base of Guantanamo at the end of the year, he signed a decree that prohibits torture of prisoners of the United States in any part of the world, he opened the registers of the White House to make his government more transparent, and he reiterated in different manners the message of his inaugural address directed at anti-American demagogues, that “their people judge them for what they are capable of building, not for what they destroy.”

To reverse some of the Bush policies that further encouraged anti-American sentiment in the world, Obama began to stand up to Chavez and other demagogues aspiring to life-long presidencies who have built their political careers blaming the United States for the backwardness of their countries. Obama won the first round. He put them on the defensive. Suddenly it is difficult for them to recite their book of insults against a young, African-American president who often has higher approval ratings in their countries than they themselves do.

That is, until the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro – the greatest master of the art of using the United States as a scapegoat for the failings of his country – treated Obama with kid gloves. In a column last week, Castro said that he does not doubt the “honesty” of Obama, although he added that it is still very early to evaluate him.

Now if Obama wants to renew the leadership of the United States in the Americas, as he promised in his campaign, he should adopt the following additional measures – some of which are already being studied by his collaborators – before the Summit of the Americas that will be held in Trinidad and Tobago on April 17th.

• Before arriving at his first international summit in London, next April 2nd, Obama should propose the inclusion of Brazil and Mexico in the G-8. This group, which meets every year to deal with the most serious problems in the world is comprised of the United States, Japan, Russian, Canada, Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

• Announce the appointment of a special envoy to the Americas who would have direct access to Obama.

• Take measures that would permit the United States to use their health insurance in hospitals abroad. This would help solve the crisis of Social Security in the United States, it would contribute to reducing the budget deficit in Washington, and would represent an enormous injection of money into the health and tourism industries in Latin America.

• He should realize the promise of the campaign of reducing American dependency on foreign oil and create an “Energy Alliance of the Americas” giving funds and technical assistance to exporting industries of alternative oils in all of Latin American. This would help everyone (except Chavez, of course, who lives on oil).

• Ask Congress for the approval of the agreements of free trade with Columbia and Panama. Obama was opposed to the agreement with Columbia during the campaign, but now he could sign some lateral agreements and actively support them.

My opinion: I agree. If he does it, Obama will disarm even more than Chavez, Castro and other narcissistic-Leninist mandates in the region.

Obama could take inspiration from what the U.S. charge d’affaires in Bolivia, Krishna Urs said last week, after the president Evo Morales affirmed, without proof, that Washington was conspiring against his government. Urs, who was in the audience, left the room and later demanded that the Bolivian government “stop using the United States as a card in its internal politics”.

Obama will be able to demand that foreign leaders be judged for what they build – and not for what they try to blame on Washington – if he continues being seen in the rest of the world as a well-intentioned and believable leader. To judge by his first days in the White House, he began very well.