Ugly Americans

So Newt Gingrich is upset with the way the President conducted himself at the Summit of the Americas. He's probably also upset that those other countries are using the name America.

And since he's upset, you can bet that Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan are too. And they are, I again made he mistake of watching Morning Joe today. Joe was apoplectic that Obama didn't respond to the evisceration of America. Well I, too, would be upset if someone had eviscerated America. So I checked to see when this had happened.

Turns out it didn't. Hugo Chavez did have the effrontery to give the President a book. Had he done this to Bush, it would have meant war, Bush not being the big reader and all. Chavez and Obama also exchanged smiles and handshakes. At least Obama didn't bow to him, or give him a back rub.

Daniel Ortega spoke for about an hour denouncing US foreign policy over the last century. I think this is what Joe had in mind, I guess one man's evisceration is another man's rant. My guess is that Newt, Joe and Pat wanted the President to denounce the denunciation. But I don't see how? Not while being honest.

Our foreign policy history in Latin America has more stains on it than my tie. How could we answer Ortega? Should we say we didn't have a policy supporting the rebels in his country, one that violated our own laws? I think that one still bothers him just a tad. Maybe Obama should have responded that he was lucky we stole Panama (fair and square) instead of Nicaragua. Heck, it would have been a shorter canal.

Of course, that's not our only fiasco in Latin America. Let's see, the Chiquita Banana revolution in Guatemala, which returned the land to the rightful owners, Chiquita Banana (United Fruit Co.) How's that liberation of the Puerto Ricans from the imperialistic Spaniards going?

As we spin around the world, it gets worse. We "liberated" the Philippines at the same time we 'freed' the Puerto Ricans. There was a little mop up exercise with the native people who didn't understand that our meaning of freedom was different than their meaning of freedom. These language things can be troublesome. About fifty years later, they finally got their freedom. Interestingly enough, the US Army used water boarding on the Filipinos.

When George W. Bush talked about bringing democracy to the Middle East, I just had to roll my eyes. Iran had formed a democratic government, elected a parliament and Prime Minister. Unfortunately, this guy thought that, like the Guatemalans, the Iranians owned the land, including the oil rights. The accountants at Anglo-Irani Oil (later British Petroleum) quickly figured out that this policy might adversely affect the profit margins. So they called the Dulles boys and badda boom, badda bing! The PM is out, and the Shah is in. And we wonder why the Iranians don't trust us.

I love America, and am proud to be a citizen. I am proud of countless acts that our fore bearers performed around the world to bring safety, freedom, equality to foreign lands. But just as we didn't always do a perfect job domestically, e g civil rights, we have not always done the right thing across the seas. And sometimes it hasn't bitten us squarely in the ass. (Ho Chi Minh was at Versailles trying to free his country in 1919. Nobody would talk to him.)

But to hear Newt and the gang, we've always been perfect. And no one else has. I understand the concept of speaking softly and carrying a big stick. I'm not sure I get the concept of ranting like a jingo and carrying an overused, overtired, mortgaged to the hilt stick.