Bush Suffers Two More Defeats

George Bush has just suffered two more defeats in his efforts to spread his right-wing doctrine. The first is in Venezuela, where they had a presidential election yesterday.

President Hugo Chavez has been a thorn in Bush's side for several years now. On Sunday, Chavez was re-elected to a new term by a large margin. With 80% of the vote counted, Chavez had 61% of the vote. His opponent, Manuel Rosales, had only 38%.

This just reinforces Latin America's move to the left. In addition to Venezuela, five other Latin American countries [Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia] have elected leftist presidents in the last year.

I think the Bush administration was hoping that with the waning of Castro in Cuba, the U.S. could once again exert a strong influence on all of the Americas. But it is not working out that way. With such a strong victory, Chavez is poised to replace Castro as the leading voice of an increasingly leftist Latin America.

***************

The other defeat for the Bush doctrine involved our ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. Bush had been unable to get Bolton's appointment to the job approved by the last Congress, so he waited until they recessed and then appointed Bolton.

I think he hoped at the time that a new Congress would be more amenable to his wishes. But that hope was smashed by Bush's utter failure in managing the Iraq war, and the rampant corruption in the Republican party. When the Democrats took over both the Senate and the House, Bolton's chances of keeping the job sank like a rock.

Today, the White House announced that Bolton would be stepping down from the job in a few days. He submitted his resignation to Bush last friday.

Maybe now we can get a U.N. ambassador more acceptable to the American people and to the other nations in the U.N..