Obama's disdain for US, Honduran constitutions

The Examiner's Hans Bader contends that Barack Obama's desire to reinstate Manuel Zelaya as Honduras' president is based upon the belief "that Honduras' Constitution is an outdated 'artifact' and thus simply should not be followed when it conflicts with the latest ideological fads.

"The irony," Bader goes on to say, "is that the same arguments could be made against the U.S. Constitution, which is almost 200 years older than the 1982 Honduran Constitution..."

Bader continues:

To justify meddling in Honduras, the Obama Administration has made radical arguments at odds with our own constitution, like claiming that elected presidents have a “universal right” to keep ruling even if they violate the Constitution...

At the same time, Obama has deliberately ignored violations of democracy and constitutional rights by left-wing dictators in Latin America, leading even the liberal Washington Post... to accuse Obama of showing a “willful disregard of political oppression” by left-wing dictators...

Bader also notes that Nicaragua's authoritarian president, Daniel Ortega has been emboldened by both Obama's disregard of the Honduran constitution and his support of Zelya, and is now pushing to extend his own rule by changing his country’s constitution.

In truth, Obama's loathing for the US constitution was already evident in an interview in 2001 with Chicago's public station WBEZ-FM:

"As radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn't that radical," Obama said. "It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as it's been interpreted..., that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. It says what the states can't do to you..., what the federal government can't do to you, but doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf."

Obama also asserted that the US Constitution "reflected an enormous blind spot" and "a fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day."

Thus, the president's disdain for the Honduran constitution should come as no surprise.

According to Obama, any constitution that bans would-be term limit violators and dictators from holding office, must be a "charter of negative liberties"! In siding with Zelaya, President Obama is simply trying to help the Honduran dictator "break free from the essential constraints that were placed" upon him by the Founding Fathers of Honduras' Constitution.

For ultimately, that's what socialism and authoritarianism are all about:

Liberty, freedom and breaking free from constraints.......