President Obama and the Honduran Constitution

Eric Erickson has an excellent column at Macon.com, and here is the money quote that tells us all we need to know about President Obama:

The Hondurans are so concerned about potential despots, that Article 239 of their constitution states that any president who proposes extending his term in office is automatically removed from office. Article 313 of the Honduran constitution allows its Supreme Court to deputize the Honduran military to carry out its orders, including removing politicians from office who seek to extend a president’s term.

Ignoring the constitution, President Manuel Zelaya, a man less popular in Honduras than George Bush was when he left office in this country, ordered a “non-binding” referendum be put to the voters on extending his stay in office.

Glenn Garvin wrote in the Miami Herald, “After the Honduran supreme court ruled that only the country’s congress could call such an election, Zelaya ordered the army to help him stage it anyway. ... When the head of the armed forces, acting on orders from the supreme court, refused, Zelaya fired him, then led a mob to break into a military base where the ballots were stored.”

The Honduran Supreme Court, congress, attorney general and members of Zelaya’s cabinet opposed his move as unconstitutional. The supreme court ordered the military to remove Zelaya from office. Honduras has no impeachment process as we know it.

Source: Macon.com (via @ewerickson)

Commentary

It is notable that President Obama (who has been accused of being a Communist, Marxist, Socialist, etc has managed to side with Chavez and Castro on this issue (and many others).

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on the Hondurans to uphold their constitutional processes...the very thing they did when they got rid of the would-be dictator Zelaya.

I guess the Obama Administration should be up for some sort of Orwellian Award for doublespeak.