President Bush Frets About Bolivian Democracy

President Bush made some rare public comments about Bolivia yesterday, expressing his deep concern about the state of democracy here. Reuters reports that, in response to a question from a Chicago audience, about Bolivia and Venezuela, Bush declared, "Let me just put it bluntly, I'm concerned about the erosion of democracy in the countries you mentioned."

The AFP report of Bush comments shows him going even farther:

"I am going to continue to remind our hemisphere that respect for property rights and human rights is essential for all countries in order for there to be prosperity and peace," said the President. "I'm going to remind people that the United States stands against corruption at all levels of government," adding, "the United States expects the same from other countries in the neighborhood." And, in a jab at Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bush added, “I'm going to remind our people that meddling in other elections to achieve a short-term objective is not in the interests of the neighborhood,"

Well, let’s just examine these comments for a moment in the context of something President Bush always has a hard time grappling with: reality.

On Democracy:

In Bolivia, that weak democracy, the President was elected last December with a 2-1 margin of victory. Mr. Bush famously took office after losing the popular vote and winning the Supreme Court Vote.

In Bolivia, the President recently kept his campaign pledge to initiate national recovery of Bolivia’s gas and oil reserves. In the US Mr. Bush isn’t doing so well on his pledges to be “a uniter not a divider” and to exercise fiscal constraint with the public purse.

On Human Rights:

In Bolivia, since Mr. Bush took office, more than 7,000 people have been arrested under a US-sponsored anti-drug law that puts people in jail without possibility of bail, even if they have never been found guilty of any crime. Bolivian prosecutors – until the new Bolivian government suspended the practice a month ago – have long received a salary bonus from the US embassy greater than their Bolivian civil servant salaries. To keep arrest figures high and climbing and to justify those US bonuses, those prosecutors have put innocents in jail by the thousands.

To my knowledge the new Bolivian government does not operate a torture center in Cuba, has not presided over the deaths of more than 25,000 Iraqis, and has not been admonished by the UN, the International Red Cross or other institutions for serious violations of human rights. President Bush cannot make similar claims.

On Meddling

I suspect if given the choice between the kind of “meddling” that Mr. Chavez has done in Bolivia (offering public support) versus the meddling recipe favored by Mr. Bush in Iraq (bombings, torture and 25,000 dead), my guess is Bolivians would opt for the first.

I think there have been times in US history when we were a nation that offered a moral example to others, even if we carried heavy faults at the same time. On democracy, justice, anti-corruption, human rights, and a host of other values, the Bush administration has pretty much destroyed whatever moral position the US once had in the world.

If I were asked to offer a translation of Mr. Bush’s comments, the most straightforward would be this one: Do what I say and not what I do.