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PrintFebruary 15, 2008
Obama receives the Danny Ortega Seal of Approval
There are endorsements. And then there are "endorsements."
Former dictator and current Nicarauguan president Danny Ortega has endorsed Senator Barack Obama's candidacy for US president, calling his campaign "revolutionary:"
"It's not to say that there is already a revolution under way in the U.S. ... but yes, they are laying the foundations for a revolutionary change," the Sandinista leader said Wednesday night as he accepted an honorary doctorate from an engineering university.Ortega has mostly behaved himself since regaining power in 2006. He learned a little about electoral politics, embracing an anti-abortion law prior to the 2006 contest after governing in the 1980's as a pro-choice president.
Ortega led a Soviet-backed government that battled U.S.-supported Contra rebels before he lost power in a 1990 election. He returned to office last year via the ballot box.
In statements broadcast on Sandinista Radio La Primerisima, Ortega said he has "faith in God and in the North American people, and above all in the youth, that the moment of great change in the U.S. will come and it will act differently, with justice and equality toward all nations."
Obama, a senator from Illinois, is locked in a tight race with Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Ortega also called Obama a spokesman for the millions of Central American and Mexican citizens who migrate to the U.S. in search of work, though polls indicate most Latino voters so far have favored Clinton over Obama.
While he occasionally spouts about US imperialism and "justice," his policies have been center-left for the most part, concentrating on improving health care and schools. Gone are the draconian redistributive policies that set much of the country against him and caused his defeat at the polls in 1990.
Ortega himself doesn't need the money. Just prior to being kicked out of office, the Sandinistas passed a law that gave the larger estates seized by the communists to individual members of the party -- including Ortega himself.
Perhaps now that he is a rich, propertied communist, he feels he has a little more to lose if things get too "revolutionary."
Ortega's endorsement of Obama can only help him with the greying, aging old left who flocked to the Sandinista banner in the 1980's -- despite the dictatorial policies of Sandinista thugs who closed opposition newspapers, broke up opposition political rallies with clubs, arrested opposition leaders, threw more moderate Nicaraguans out of the ruling coalition, and carried out a ruthless campaign against the Mesquite indians who refused to give up their lands to the Sandinistas.
Yes...but they hated Reagan which was good enough for the lefties in this country.
Richard Baehr adds:
Here is an idea for Hillary if she wins. Appoint Obama a special emissary to Latin America thugs and have him pay special tribute to Che Guevara.
