Chavez's gift to Obama swiftly becomes best-seller

[DisturbedPervert]

I'm surprised Obama didn't give him one of his autobiographies in return.

[PDH]

I'm surprised Obama didn't give him one of his autobiographies in return.

  Obama gifted him with his presence.

[MadImmortalMan]

He should give it to Bush. He knows Spanish. 

[The Larch]

"The Wealth of Nations" would have been a poor reciprocal since it is well written and well thought out; unlike the book Barack got.  Obama should have given him "Atlas Shrugged", instead.

Is it that bad? I haven't read it and the issue gives me slight shudders, but it's apparently a cult book amongst the South American left (which might not be a good endorsement after all anyway).

[Alatriste]

"The Wealth of Nations" would have been a poor reciprocal since it is well written and well thought out; unlike the book Barack got.  Obama should have given him "Atlas Shrugged", instead.

Is it that bad? I haven't read it and the issue gives me slight shudders, but it's apparently a cult book amongst the South American left (which might not be a good endorsement after all anyway).

'Atlas shrugged' a cult book amongst the South American left? I find that very hard to believe, you probably have mistaken the title... google 'Ayn Rand' if you don't know who she was.

[The Larch]

"The Wealth of Nations" would have been a poor reciprocal since it is well written and well thought out; unlike the book Barack got.  Obama should have given him "Atlas Shrugged", instead.

Is it that bad? I haven't read it and the issue gives me slight shudders, but it's apparently a cult book amongst the South American left (which might not be a good endorsement after all anyway).

'Atlas shrugged' a cult book amongst the South American left? I find that very hard to believe, you probably have mistaken the title... google 'Ayn Rand' if you don't know who she was.

I meant "The open veins of Latin America".  With such a subtle subtitle as "Five centuries of the pillage of a continent" I don't have high hopes about it. 

Edit: Having been around the net, I've been already exposed to much more Ayn Rand stuff than I would like to. 

[Ed Anger]

Atlas Shrugged is a cult book among retards however.

[Valmy]

I don't think he is right in this instance.  We've nothing to gain from Chavez.

Being friendly to him might do us some good to the other South American nations.  It will make us look reasonable and him look more and more like a buffoon.  But yes he has no interest in doing anything for us.  His regime is based on paranoia of neo-Liberal forces backed by the evil United States.

[derspiess]

Considering the content of the book, was this a gift or another way of giving us the middle finger?

Yeah, and Mr. Obama took it smiling.

[Valmy]

Yeah, and Mr. Obama took it smiling.

Smiling and patting nutjob on the head is probably the best way of dealing with him.  Besides Obama probably had no idea WTF an obscure Spanish book was about.

[Berkut]

Considering the content of the book, was this a gift or another way of giving us the middle finger?

Yeah, and Mr. Obama took it smiling.

As he should have.

You don't get offended when the gnat tries to take a bite, you simply don't notice.

Chavez is a nobody, in the overall scheme of things. We should treat him as such.

I think Obama made a damn good point when he noted that Cuba gets a lot of sympathy from Latin America because they do things like send out doctors and such, while most of the political interaction with the US is based on drug interdiction, military assistance, and us telling them what they ought to be doing.

I think Obama is on the right track, I just hope he now follows through on it.

[garbon]

I liked this brief analysis (part of a larger article about how Obama is willing to admit the US makes mistakes, not a problem in my view):

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hoQPmCrjVtkhei2oW-PCLMqnS3ygD97LQLNG0

Said that "if our only interaction with many of these countries is drug interdiction, if our only interaction is military, then we may not be developing the connections that can, over time, increase our influence" — neglecting to mention U.S. health care, education and humanitarian relief efforts in Latin America.

[Camper]

I put a hold on the translated version of that book at the library the other day, but there were already a couple of dozen people ahead of me in the queue. 

[KRonn]

I think Pres Obama handled this gift well. Not much he could do really, just accept it rather than make a stink about it which would give Chavez supporters a smile. Pres Obama is talking about taking some different steps in South/Central America, doing help in other ways that maybe the US hasn't been doing outside of anti-drug, military assistance. I think that while the US does do a decent amount of economic aid, still that doesn't seem so noticeable. Obama wants to change that, change the tone; good ideas and I hope he carries through on it.

[derspiess]

I put a hold on the translated version of that book at the library the other day, but there were already a couple of dozen people ahead of me in the queue. 

All I know of it is that it is the title of a Los Fabulosos Cadillacs song.  I may give it a read as well, though I'm sure it's filled with leftist Latin American anti-US drivel.