The Devil and Hugo Chavez

There was an uproar last week about Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez referring to President Bush as 'the devil' in a speech to the United Nations.

"Yesterday, the devil came here. Right here," The Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying. He crossed himself. "Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today."

This got a big laugh from the General Assembly, and of couse, the right-wing commentariat was outraged.

But it was funny, which is obvious from the reaction it got.

What makes it funny?

First of all, it's funny because Chavez is a little like the mouse making the 'last grand gesture of defiance' to the cat. A lot has been written about Chavez's potential to be a spoiler in corporate America's plans for Central America, but regardless of what his actual power and influence is or may become, he's still the leader of a small nation sticking it to the leader of the most powerful nation on earth.

Secondly, it's funny because while President Bush tries to portray himself as a no-nonsense, two-fisted, plain-talkin' kind of guy, he's actually an obviously snippish, peevish, thin-skinned but ineffective oligarch posing for silly photo ops and in front of increasingly silly-looking prefab "Gotta Love Me Gotta Love Me Gotta Love Me Gotta Love Me" backdrops.

The mainstream media in this country still try to put the best face they can on the president, not because they like him or respect him, I suspect, but because of what he represents: the tippy-top of the economic pyramid wherein reside, among others, the corporate media execs whose signatures appear on six-figure monthly paychecks written to network correspondents and widely-read pundits.

But Chavez says it like it is, and many General Assembly members laughed in appreciation. Not that Bush is truly 'the devil,' because Chavez mocks his own melodramatic statement by crossing himself and referring to smelling sulfur, but that Bush is simply a dangerous man to have leading a nation as powerful as the U.S., and Chavez, at least, is willing to defy the strained, overwrought reverential tone the U.S. government and media still try force on the rest of us regarding the president.

And thirdly: the fact that Chavez can mock his own accusation displays at least one attribute Bush lacks: a sense of humor about himself.


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