Venezuela Update: Ohmigod, Obama Shook Chavez's Hand! He Took His Book!

UPDATE: A senior Obama administration official told CNN late Saturday that Chavez had asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to consider the return of US and Venezuelan ambassadors to their posts in Caracas and Washington. The official endorsed the initiative, "This is a positive development that will help advance U.S. interests. And, the State Department will now work to further this shared goal."

Have just emerged from academic conference limbo to see this video of President Barack Obama accepting both a handshake and a book from Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas.

No doubt, we will now have lots of media frothing about Obama's appeasement of Latin America dictators through displays of courtesy, rather than, say, slapping Chavez across the face with a white glove and ripping the book to shreds. Already Newt Gingrich, who apparently was once a Republican Congressman, has made the magic link between smiling at Chavez, bowing to Saudi King Abdullah, and giving a loving kiss to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv1NjuMwzQ8[/youtube]

Behind this flapping, there is one of the major foreign policy stories of this Administration. In sharp contrast to the macho posture taken by George W. Bush and his advisors --- which failed to overthrow Chavez and alienated many in Latin America as new governments emerged from Bolivia to Ecuador --- Obama's White House has decided to exert influence through discussion and partnership. Even before this handshake, a new Washington had accepted referenda in Bolivia and Venezuela that bolstered the Morales and Chavez Governments.

And, of course, there are the gradual steps being taken by Obama to ease the US isolation of Cuba, as well as his Friday declaration that “the United States seeks a new beginning” with Havana. Indeed, this may be Chavez's inadvertent contribution to American "engagement": by grabbing the media hot lights with his book presentation, he has taken criticism away from Washington's tip-toeing but still significant approach to a relationship with the former #1 Latin American Bad Guys.