Hugo Chavez obviously doesn’t want to offer an olive branch:
CAMPO CARABOBO, Venezuela (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday Barack Obama had the “stench” of his predecessor as U.S. president and was at risk of being killed if he tries to change the American “empire.”
Most world leaders expect a new era of U.S. foreign relations when Obama, a Democrat, is sworn in as president on Tuesday after Republican George W. Bush’s eight years in the White House.
But Chavez said frayed ties with Washington were unlikely to improve despite the departure of Bush, who the Venezuelan leader has often called the “devil.”
“I hope I am wrong, but I believe Obama brings the same stench, to not say another word,” Chavez said at a political rally on a historic Venezuelan battlefield.
“If Obama as president of the United States does not obey the orders of the empire, they will kill him, like they killed Kennedy, like they killed Martin Luther King, or Lincoln, who freed the blacks and paid with his life.”
I sometimes harbor similar suspicions, but I think it is a shame that Mr. Chavez chooses belligerence and hyperbole at a time like this. If Chavez wants better relations with the United States, he could start with having a few kind, diplomatic things to say about Obama’s inauguration.