The Obama administration's fascination with dictators

I saw this piece a couple of days ago concerning the US State Department's decision to limit the number of visas issued to Hondurans in the wake of the expulsion of Hugo Chavez wannabe, ex prez Manuel Zalaya.

"The Obama administration has urged Honduran authorities to accept proposals put forward by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, whose efforts to end the crisis have stalled over the de facto government's refusal to allow Zelaya to return to power."

Then yesterday I saw this item posted over at Drudge titled "U.S. moves toward formal cut off of aid to Honduras". I coudnt believe what I was reading.

"U.S. State Department staff have recommended that the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya be declared a "military coup," a U.S. official said on Thursday, a step that could cut off as much as $150 million in U.S. funding to the impoverished Central American nation.The official, who spoke on condition he not be named, said State Department staff had made such a recommendation to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has yet to make a decision on the matter although one was likely soon."

The Obama administration could have used this opportunity to support the decision of the Honduran Supreme Court and recognize that a dictator thug cannot declare himself president indefinately. Instead, they seem to be pushing to not upset the apple cart and pressure government officials to restore Zelaya. All of this seems to be a surreal sort of Alice in Wonderland situation in which up is down and down is up. In years past, the US government would support dictators ala Pinochet or Duvalier due to their anti-communist ideologies. Now it would seem that the socialists in charge of the show at the federal level have found a kindred spirit in Zelaya who has openly allied himself with far-left socialists in that part of the hemisphere.