Actually, No, I Didn't

So did anyone listen to the rest of Hugo Chavez’s speech? asks the Kansas City Star's Mary Sanchez in her Tuesday editorial. And I still haven't gone back to read the speech in its entirety, but what she has to say about it makes a lot of sense.

Minus the outlandish sound bites, Chavez pushed the idea that the United States is out to control much more of the world than the 50 states that define it.

And that, my fellow Americans, is a message that plays big in much of the world. . . . Remember that his talk drew applause from many diplomats.

Chavez went to great lengths to indicate that most Americans wish for world peace. He’s right, they do. But don’t be lulled by Chavez’s separation of everyday folks from their government.

Instead, become more aware of U.S. polices that, whether with intent or not, do adversely affect the world’s poor. Things like some trade agreements, our efforts to eradicate drug-producing crops in foreign countries, and meddling — like the funding of coups.

Dismissing Chavez’s tirade outright misses how many of his thoughts ring true to some of the world’s poor and disenfranchised, people who already believe the United States is a country worth loathing.

And the extremists Chavez might inspire would not make a distinction between the U.S. government and the people it represents.