Obama: Hugo Chavez Does Not Pose 'Serious' National Security Threat

President Obama’s bizarre comment comes in an interview that aired Tuesday on a Spanish language station in Miami.

Then, [Oscar] Haza [a well-known Spanish language journalist] asked about the alliance between Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Iran.

“We’re always concerned about Iran engaging in destabilizing activity around the globe. But overall my sense is that what Mr. Chávez has done over the last several years has not had a serious national security impact on us,” Obama said. “We have to vigilant. My main concern when it comes to Venezuela is having the Venezuelan people have a voice in their affairs, and that you end up ultimately having fair and free elections, which we don’t always see.” (emphasis added)

Hugo Chavez has aligned Venezuela, a former American ally, with Iran and with its international terrorist army Hizballah. That’s the beginning of the threat Chavez poses.

For years, Chavez tried to destabilize his neighbors in Colombia, a staunch US ally. Hugo Chavez’s regime and the international drug trade — check. The drug trade flowing to and through Venezuela to fund international Islamic terrorists — check.

International terrorist army Hizballah funds much of its global operations via the drug trade, it operates in the Venezuelan frontier, and has infiltrated the Mexican drug cartels.

Hizballah is in fact officially visiting Venezuela today.

None of that is a serious threat? Perhaps not to a president who less officially hosted the Muslim Brotherhood.

It’s tempting to chalk Obama’s Chavez comment up to cluelessness. That would be a mistake, when there is so much evidence of Chavez’s evil, and so much evidence that Obama is simpatico with Chavez.