A coup in Honduras

There's a lot I don't know about Honduras, like (until six o'clock this morning) the name of its president, Manuel Zelaya, just ousted by a coup. But let's just play through this scenario: It is 2016 and Barack Obama is in his final year as president, forbidden by the 22nd Amendment from running again. Since the US is still mired in the Great Recession, he decides to save the demos by holding a referendum to see if the people will allow him to serve a third term.

The Supreme Court points out that the referendum is unconstitutional. Obama ignores the justices and instructs David Petraeus, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to distribute the ballots, which the president has had printed up in Venezuela. The general refuses, so Obama fires him and has Rahm Emanuel storm the Pentagon where the ballots are stored. So Delta Force in turn storms the White House, overpowers the Secret Service, and puts the president on a plane to Toronto.

Where is the right in this? Raw democracy rumbles on one side, the rule of law sits primly on the other. I am inclined to go with the rule of law, which after all has served us well for more than two hundred years.

Not so the Obama administration, which has joined with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro in condemning the coup in Honduras. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has so far refrained from comment. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford