The Chavez Democrats

From The Wall Street Journal

Editorial
March 10, 2008

What is it about Democrats and Hugo Chavez? Even as the Venezuelan strongman was threatening war last week against Colombia, Congress was threatening to hand him a huge strategic victory by spurning Colombia's free trade overtures to the U.S.

This isn't the first time Democrats have come to Mr. Chavez's aid, but it would be the most destructive. The Venezuelan is engaged in a high-stakes competition over the political and economic direction of Latin America. He wants the region to follow his path of ever greater state control of the economy, while assisting U.S. enemies wherever he can. ...

Meanwhile, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe is embracing greater economic and political freedom. He has bravely assisted the U.S fight against narco-traffickers, and he now wants to link his country more closely to America with a free-trade accord. ...

Yet Democrats on Capitol Hill are doing their best to help Mr. Chavez prevail against Mr. Uribe. Even as Mr. Chavez was doing his war dance, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus was warning the White House not to send the Colombia deal to the Hill for a vote without the permission of Democratic leaders. He was seconded by Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, who told Congress Daily ... "what they [the White House] don't understand it's not the facts on the ground, it's the politics that's in the air."

Mr. Rangel is right about the politics. ... [T]his is an election year in America. And Democrats don't want to upset their union and anti-trade allies. ...

[T]he bottleneck is Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is refusing to allow a vote under pressure from her left-wing Members. These Democrats deride any link between Hugo Chavez and trade as a "scare tactic," ...

[C]onnecticut Senator Chris Dodd's early support helped the strongman consolidate his power. Former President Jimmy Carter blessed Mr. Chávez's August 2004 recall victory, despite evidence of fraud. And then there are the many House Democrats, current and former, who have accepted discount oil from Venezuela and then distributed it in the U.S. to boost their own political fortunes. ...

Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both competing for union support. ...

[B]oth say they oppose the deal on grounds that Mr. Uribe has not done more to protect "trade unionists." ... The real question for Democrats is whether they're going to choose Colombia -- or Hugo Chavez.

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