Opinion
With the departure of George W. Bush from the White House next week, no one in the world is more tearful than President Chávez of Venezuela. Since 2000, Chávez called Bush a devil, a killer, a terrorist, a dictator, a racist, a donkey, a drunkard, and a jerk -but Bush never blinked. With no evidence, Chávez said Bush planned a coup against him, national strikes against him, a recall referendum against him, a series of assassination attempts against him, and predicted US military invasions that never materialized -but Bush did not respond.

By ignoring every absurd charge, Bush allowed Chávez to blame him for Venezuela's pollution, drug trade, inflation, insecurity, poverty and misery. With Bush gone, who can Chávez blame? How can he blame a black man born in poverty who opposes the war in Iraq for Venezuela's problems?

Far be it from the supreme military commander in chief to entertain the idea that maybe he has something to do with Venezuela's misery. He has no second thoughts about spending USD 100 billion of Venezuela's money in foreign political subsidies. He believes that Venezuela's security has been strengthened by his connections to the FARC, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, Russia, Belarus, Libya, Zimbabwe and North Korea. He believes that USD 5 billion of new weapons of destruction he purchased is a step toward peace and harmony in Latin America. He believes that the US economy must fail because of capitalism but that Venezuela's must thrive because of Bolivarian socialism.

And now that he's running out of time to enjoy being the boss, he believes that the answer to Venezuela's atrocious murder, insecurity, poverty, unemployment, corruption, and inflation rates is giving him the right to presidential election for life.

Do you see his point? The future is not about the people of Venezuela -it's all about the commander in chief. Isn't that the way he obviously sees it? The future is not about 28,000,000 Venezuelans, it's about him. The most important thing to consider in 2009 is his election forever to the presidency.

His power is more important than the homicides, the lost jobs, the lost lives at the public hospitals, the inflation that makes the poor even poorer, and the stolen or wasted billions in suitcases all over the world. The idea is, keep him in power forever so he can look for someone else to blame for Venezuela's problems later on. What one calls narcissism, the other calls command.
michaelrowan22@gmail.com