Obama and Hugo Chavez, your thoughts...

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"(CNN) – Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, told CNN Sunday it was "irresponsible" for President Obama to have been seen "laughing and joking" with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas on Friday.

"This is a person who is one of the most anti-American leaders in the entire world," Ensign told CNN's John King on State of The Union. "He is a brutal dictator and human rights violations are very, very prevalent in Venezuela. And you have to be careful."

"When you're talking about the prestige of the United States and the presidency of the United States, you have to be careful who you're seen joking around with," he also said.

Chavez — whose anti-U.S. rhetoric has included calling former President George W. Bush the devil — announced Saturday he is considering naming an ambassador to the United States, signaling a potential shift in the tense relations between the two nations.

Speaking to reporters Sunday in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Obama brushed aside criticism of the appearance, saying, "It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States."

"Even with the imaginative crowd, I think that you would be hard pressed to paint a scenario where US interests would be damaged as a consequence of us having a more constructive relationship with Venezuela," he said.

Also appearing on CNN, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, downplayed the moment between Obama and the Venezuelan leader, saying, "all the president did was shake his hand like George Bush [did]."

"What the president is doing here at the summit of the Americas: he is reaching out to all of these countries like he did at the G20 [Summit], I think very effectively," Klobuchar also said.

In the interview with CNN, Ensign was also sharply critical of the Obama administration for releasing previously classified CIA memos outlining Bush-era interrogation techniques.

"What the president has done is he has sent a fear throughout the intelligence community that they could be prosecuted in the future," Ensign said. "And that is exactly the kind of fear that paralyzed the intelligence community prior to September 11. I think America is less safe because of the release of these memos," he said.

The memos, written by then-lawyers for the CIA and Justice Department officials, said interrogation tactics such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation and slapping did not violate laws against torture when there was no intent to cause severe pain."


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Personally, I don't have much of an issue with Chavez. I don't see him as an evil dictator. I see him as someone the US doesn't like because he would seek to nationalize industry that compromise US economic interests.

I would suggest people look into a documentary called "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" to learn about the attempted US-backed coup.

That's just my opinion though, and it's not entirely relevant to this discussion. Even if Chavez was an evil dictator, I still want Obama talking to him. Diplomacy is better than war imo.

I think its a GOOD thing that Chavez is laughing and joking with Obama, because that means they are TALKING.

I used to have some respect for Chavez because he was confronting the USA during the Bush period, but lately he seems a little bit more power hungry, his attempt to change the constitution to allow himself to represent past his maximum term is a bit odd... -Sigh- He could learn a bit from his neighbor Lula <.< The people practicly begged him to stay in power, but he refused, saying he wants someone else to lead after he's done. :p

I have seen pictures of Nixon shaking Mao's hand (both were smiling), Gerald Ford smiling and shaking hands with Brezhnev, Reagan embracing Gorbachov, Donald Rumsfeld smiling and shaking hands with Saddam Hussein (arranging for weapons shipments after Saddam gassed the Kurds), and Bush smiling and shaking hands with Putin (who is doing his best to end democracy in Russia, invade Georgia, etc).

And we are supposed to get upset because Obama didn't spit in Chavez's face and knock him over? Nah. Just another cheap political stunt from the Republicans, desperate to minimize Obama's influence in every way, even if it destroys America.

political capital, spend it. spend it alot! who cares. we had to deal with a baboon in the whitehouse for 8 years so im all for obama meeting anyone, hopefully he lifts the trade embargo on cuba and we have normal relations with them

Hugo Chavez is nothing but a banana dictator that hates the US and will see any attempt to warm up to him as a weakness to exploit. Warming up to Cuba is also a bad idea because their government is about ready to collapse and we could be rid of communism in the western hemisphere if Obama doesn't screw that up. We are in a position to choke off our non-muslim enemies (like N. Korea) and obama wants to make friends with them. That's tantamount to treason.

dude are job isnt policing the world or nation building, but i guess we have toomany intrests especially oil to get out? it makes me sad. thats the only thing i dont like about this country, we try to run planet earth for our own benefit

The best part is Obama accepting a copy of Galeano's "Open Veins of Latin America" from Chavez.
Cuba's government is not about to collapse.

Chavez one of the most anti-American leaders in the world? Please...

Chavez is just another loudmouth that gets a lot of political mileage out of talking smack about us, if we kill him with kindness it might actually erode his position at home once people quite being distracted about the big, bad Norteamericanos and start taking a long hard look at El Presidente. I'm not sure if I credit Obama with being quite that sly yet, but I'm willing to give him the chance to try his method out. If that doesn't work, we could always start air dropping rap videos and Coca Cola to the poor Venezuelan proles, American culture is like commie Kryptonite.

At least they're having a civil conversation.

I didn't see any outcry when Bush was walking and talking with the king of Saudi Arabia.

I'm cool with it. Chavez may be a dick, but he's a legally, fairly elected dick, and one with no blood on his hands to boot. That's a lot better than what I can say about other world leaders past presidents have buddied up with.

I don't like either one of those stooges.