After Obama Endures Slaps by Ortega, Chavez, AP Incredibly Says Summit Ends on 'Hopeful' Note

Associated Press writer Mark R. Smith notes this morning that the Summit of the Americas is wrapping up Sunday with President Barack Obama hopeful he'd boosted the image of the U.S. among its friends in the region and perhaps even made some new ones.

AP reported that among those seemingly charmed by the president's promise of a new, more equal partnership was Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the fiery leftist who famously likened former President George W. Bush to the devil.

However, ABC News said Chavez gave Obama the anti-American book, "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano.

Obama politely posed for a photograph with Chavez, shook his hand, and accepted the gift.

Financial news service Bloomberg.com noted that Latin American leaders summarily railed against the U.S. during the summit, turning a trip Obama intended to mark a new direction in relations into a history lesson that chastised “Yankee troop” interventions and U.S.-dictated economic policies.

Major Garret, of Fox News, noted that Obama endured a 50-minute diatribe from socialist Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega that lashed out at a century of what he called terroristic U.S. aggression in Central America and included a rambling denunciation of the U.S.-imposed isolation of Cuba's Communist government.

Obama sat quietly during the speech but at times jotted notes. The speech was part of the opening ceremonies at the summit.

I've always suspected that a healthy dose of self-loathing was part of the change Obama had in mind for America....

Sources:
Summit ending on hopeful note for President Obama
Chavez Gifts Obama With Book That Assails U.S. for Exploiting Latin America
Obama Endures Ortega Diatribe