BAH ! Obama vs Chavez Reagan vs Gorbachev

Let me get this straight. It was OK for Reagan to pal around with _______________ of the Soviet Union who could kill us militarily and not okay for Obama to shake hands with Chavez of ___________ who can only call us names. It's was OK for Nixon to toast __________ of China and not OK for Obama to be civil to uncivil __________ of Nicaragua.

Perhaps the cool style of this President exposed the boorishness and impotence of those popgun dictators not the dignity and might of the United States. Perhaps his new face of diplomacy has exposed the thin-skinned nature of the failed foreign policy of Cheney/Bush more than anything else.

Now I get it. It was okay for conservatives to chatup mortal enemies to further American interests in the Cold War...it's not okay for realists to engage the pipsqueaks south of the border to further American economic interests weakened by the global policies of the previous administration.