Wednesday
Nov122008
Obama, Chavez, and a New Relationship? The Strange Case of the Houston Consulate
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 15:39
The Stonecipher Report picks up on a flap over the Venezuelan Consulate in Houston, Texas, and draws an interesting conclusion:
The reasons for this failed relationship [between Bush's USA and Chavez's Venezuela] are far too many and too complex to get into here, but the point is, it has become the equivalent of a couple of parents who absolutely hate each other, but who also deeply love their children (which, in this case, is millions of barrels of oil) - so they fight through every brutal day and stay together no matter what - for the children's sake.
Just as in a failed marriage, a lot of the arguing gets ridiculous, and both sides look for almost every opportunity possible to take jabs at the other. Since Venezuela refuses to go to counseling and the Bush Administration just clamps its hands over its ears and yells "la, la, la, la, la...I can't hear you!" every time Venezuela wants to sit down and talk, things are never going to get any better.
On Monday, the United States took one of those ridiculous jabs and it appeared that we would be subject to another week of petty bickering when the U.S. State Department "invited" some Venezuelan diplomats that worked at the Houston consulate, to leave the country.
The Venezuelan consulate in Houston happens to be a very important one. After all, Houston is the home of Big Oil, so a lot of Venezuela's business with the U.S. is conducted there.
Apparently, important office doesn't equal comfortable office. The Venezuelans working there wanted a new one. So they made a request to the U.S. State Department that would authorize them to lease a new space for their offices.
Sounds reasonable.
But the Venezuelans didn't wait to hear back from the State Department. They found a new home, paid the rent and moved in before they ever heard back from State.
This led to some expected bickering, which then led to the decision that came down on Monday, to "invite" those Venezuelans to leave.
Of course, the next step for Chavez would be to go out and give an angry, rousing speech against the donkey to the north - Something that would really rile up his base and help him score some political points at home. After all, a big election is coming up on Nov. 23 in Venezuela. It isn't a presidential election, but many of his allies are up for re-election and polls are showing many of them need a boost of some sort.
So, the US waited for an angry Hugo Chavez to belligerently respond.
Sure enough, Tuesday morning, Washington got its response - Chavez fired the Houston consul for violating the rules on opening new offices and told them to come home.
Huh?
Are you serious Hugo? What's wrong with you?
Where is all the name calling? Where is the threat to have OPEC make major cuts in production? Where did the anger go?
What the hell is any different now than it was last week?
What's gotten into you Mr. Chavez? This doesn't make any sense!
Wait.
Oh yeeeaaahhh...I remember now!
We just elected that Obama guy! That guy who said he would sit down and talk with you and work to find a common ground that's good for both America and Venezuela, a deal that's good for both of us.
....Isn't it amazing what even the threat of a little diplomacy will do? After eight years of screaming and yelling across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, along with promises not to talk from the Bush Administration, the mere possibility that the new American President might be willing to sit down and talk has caused Hugo Chavez to suddenly cease his saber-rattling.
While this is good news, pretending that U.S.-Venezuelan relations can easily be repaired at this point would be foolish. There are plenty of difficult issues that still need to be hashed out, but at least we have an opportunity to work together rather than against each other, something we have not had for the past eight years.
In the end, both sides have an interest in making this relationship work, and maybe this period of goodwill will only last for a few months, but for now it's here and it's real - one of the first tangible signs that Barack Obama has, in fact, brought real change to America.
The reasons for this failed relationship [between Bush's USA and Chavez's Venezuela] are far too many and too complex to get into here, but the point is, it has become the equivalent of a couple of parents who absolutely hate each other, but who also deeply love their children (which, in this case, is millions of barrels of oil) - so they fight through every brutal day and stay together no matter what - for the children's sake.
Just as in a failed marriage, a lot of the arguing gets ridiculous, and both sides look for almost every opportunity possible to take jabs at the other. Since Venezuela refuses to go to counseling and the Bush Administration just clamps its hands over its ears and yells "la, la, la, la, la...I can't hear you!" every time Venezuela wants to sit down and talk, things are never going to get any better.
On Monday, the United States took one of those ridiculous jabs and it appeared that we would be subject to another week of petty bickering when the U.S. State Department "invited" some Venezuelan diplomats that worked at the Houston consulate, to leave the country.
The Venezuelan consulate in Houston happens to be a very important one. After all, Houston is the home of Big Oil, so a lot of Venezuela's business with the U.S. is conducted there.
Apparently, important office doesn't equal comfortable office. The Venezuelans working there wanted a new one. So they made a request to the U.S. State Department that would authorize them to lease a new space for their offices.
Sounds reasonable.
But the Venezuelans didn't wait to hear back from the State Department. They found a new home, paid the rent and moved in before they ever heard back from State.
This led to some expected bickering, which then led to the decision that came down on Monday, to "invite" those Venezuelans to leave.
Of course, the next step for Chavez would be to go out and give an angry, rousing speech against the donkey to the north - Something that would really rile up his base and help him score some political points at home. After all, a big election is coming up on Nov. 23 in Venezuela. It isn't a presidential election, but many of his allies are up for re-election and polls are showing many of them need a boost of some sort.
So, the US waited for an angry Hugo Chavez to belligerently respond.
Sure enough, Tuesday morning, Washington got its response - Chavez fired the Houston consul for violating the rules on opening new offices and told them to come home.
Huh?
Are you serious Hugo? What's wrong with you?
Where is all the name calling? Where is the threat to have OPEC make major cuts in production? Where did the anger go?
What the hell is any different now than it was last week?
What's gotten into you Mr. Chavez? This doesn't make any sense!
Wait.
Oh yeeeaaahhh...I remember now!
We just elected that Obama guy! That guy who said he would sit down and talk with you and work to find a common ground that's good for both America and Venezuela, a deal that's good for both of us.
....Isn't it amazing what even the threat of a little diplomacy will do? After eight years of screaming and yelling across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, along with promises not to talk from the Bush Administration, the mere possibility that the new American President might be willing to sit down and talk has caused Hugo Chavez to suddenly cease his saber-rattling.
While this is good news, pretending that U.S.-Venezuelan relations can easily be repaired at this point would be foolish. There are plenty of difficult issues that still need to be hashed out, but at least we have an opportunity to work together rather than against each other, something we have not had for the past eight years.
In the end, both sides have an interest in making this relationship work, and maybe this period of goodwill will only last for a few months, but for now it's here and it's real - one of the first tangible signs that Barack Obama has, in fact, brought real change to America.