Does Obama Speak Honduran?

Honduras is following its constitution, Ex-Presidente Zelaya was not. The Obama administration is wrong again. If we can't do the right thing, then we at least need to butt out.

We sided with the Mullas in Iran, and now we're siding with the Chavistas in Central America. Tyranny is on the march, and Clinton and Obama are out in front twirling the baton and beating the drum...

Honduran Ex-President Zelaya wanted to pull a Chavez by changing the constitution in an unconstitutional way. The Supreme Court and Congress told him it was illegal and the court issued an order to halt the voting. When the President refused to follow the law, the military stepped in. All constitutional. Fausta, Latin America blogger extraordinaire, sums it up here.

Mary Anastasia O'Grady explains in her WSJ article, why the Obama Administration is wrong yet again on an important foreign policy question:

That Mr. Zelaya acted as if he were above the law, there is no doubt. While Honduran law allows for a constitutional rewrite, the power to open that door does not lie with the president. A constituent assembly can only be called through a national referendum approved by its Congress.

But Mr. Zelaya declared the vote on his own and had Mr. Chávez ship him the necessary ballots from Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do.

The top military commander, Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, told the president that he would have to comply. Mr. Zelaya promptly fired him. The Supreme Court ordered him reinstated. Mr. Zelaya refused.

Honduras is fighting back by strictly following the constitution. The Honduran Congress met in emergency session yesterday and designated its president as the interim executive as stipulated in Honduran law. It also said that presidential elections set for November will go forward. The Supreme Court later said that the military acted on its orders. It also said that when Mr. Zelaya realized that he was going to be prosecuted for his illegal behavior, he agreed to an offer to resign in exchange for safe passage out of the country. Mr. Zelaya denies it.

Maybe President Obama can get on the phone and impress the Hondurans with his eloquence. He probably doesn't speak Honduran though...

Fausta - Honduras
WSJ -O'Grady - Honduras Protecting its Constitution