Those immature Venezuelans
I almost hesitate to write anything about Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, given the considerableamount of vitriol on all sides that any discussion of him generates over at the 5 Min. Forecast. So perhaps I should preface this post by pointing out what seems to me to be obvious (and while I don't presume to speak for Addison, I think he's in general agreement): Chavez is a blowhard, full of himself, and utterly ignorant of the basic laws of economics. The fact he came to power in a democratic election does not change any of that. But by the same token, none of that means the United States government has any business meddling in the affairs of the Venezuelan government. If they want to cut their own throats, that's their business.
So with that preface in mind, let us proceed to today's follies, in which Chavez essentially blames his own people for the defeat of a constitutional referendum that would have (among other things) allowed him to run for an unlimited number of terms. Of course, he didn't put it in such blunt terms:
President Chavez admitted that he needed to analyse why some of those who turned out to re-elect him with 63% of the vote last December did not turn out on Sunday.
And speaking to Venezuelan TV on Monday, Mr Chavez also admitted that it was perhaps not the right time to push through his socialist project.
"Perhaps I made a mistake in the timing of my proposals, that could be, that we are not politically mature enough," he said.
"It's a challenge for us, we're going to convince those of our comrades who have doubts, those who have fears concerning socialism."
But Mr Chavez has stressed that the battle to build socialism will continue and his reform proposal is still "alive".
No, the fact that socialism is clearly undermining Venezuela's economy wouldn't have anything to do with it. Instead, his people have to "mature" — you know, grow up a little, or maybe age like a fine wine.
The guy's as delusional as George W. Bush. Oh, that'll get the vitrol flowing!
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