And the right-wingers are upset because: we finally have someone representing America that has manners and etiquette rather than the ones we had, who responded as Dick Cheney did so often, ” F-ck you or gave other people/nations the one finger salute, as did G.W. to Americans while holding the American flag on Flag Day while they represented America.

I don’t know or care to know what these so called right wingers think or where come from, but I rather have someone who represents this country with some common sense instead of the hostility brought to us for the last 8 years from the former administration. Someone willing to talk to our perceived enemies instead of creating more, like in the past.

Wasn’t it Don Corleone who said, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”? There is no downside to Obama being amicable to someone like Chavez. It doesn’t ‘validate’ Chavez’s presidency, his methods or his statements. All it does is make Obama look like a decent person who is willing to listen, even to adversaries.  He doesn’t have to put on a game-face just to make sure Chavez and the world knows he’s our enemy. The political downsides to Obama’s friendly gesture are created by ideologues who think you have to play hardball all the time in order to maintain a high level of antagonism with unfriendly leaders. Look where that sort of posturing has gotten the United States over the last 10 years.