Our “alarmingly naive” president continues to befriend America’s enemies and alienate America’s friends. 

By Michael Podwill

Many Obama critics castigate him for his ceaseless campaign to besmirch Mitt Romney’s name and reputation.

Those critics claim (rightly) that Obama can’t possibly run on his pathetic presidential performance, so they assume he spends 100% of his time deriding Romney’s wealth, career and character.

Here they’re wrong. Obama doesn’t spend all of his time slandering his rival. Unfortunately, he still finds ample opportunity, aside from his Romney fatwa, to keep pushing America over the cliff.  

Last week, while most of the media concentrated on publicizing — and legitimizing –Obama’s mendacious Romney attacks, this little item practically slipped by: In an interview with a Spanish TV station, Miami’s WJAN, Obama actually said that Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez “has not had a serious national security impact on us.”

Such an irresponsible comment must be put into suitable perspective. Even the insidious fiction that is Obama has to ultimately be accountable…for something. Even in today’s America, where much of the media remains maddeningly in Obama’s pocket. Let that accounting be now. And let it be here.

In terms of sheer presidential absurdity, Obama’s twisted view of Chavez perches on a level with the image of Calvin Coolidge in an Indian headdress; candidate Michael Dukakis’s hapless head bobbing atop that Abrams M1 tank; or Jimmy Carter’s “put on a sweater” solution to the nation’s energy crisis. In short, we’re talking mind-numbingly dumb.

Of course, those Coolidge/Dukakis/Carter follies, outside of displaying cluelessness, caused no real damage to the country. But, over and again, Obama puts us directly in harm’s way.

The “unthreatening” Chavez has all but destroyed Venezuelan democracy. And he works assiduously to bring down the government in neighboring Colombia, a staunch American ally. As ever, Obama emboldens our enemies and undermines our friends.

But the biggest issue, the direct threat to America, is the burgeoning alliance between Chavez and Iran.

In Venezuela, Iran has found a comfortable, compliant base — in the middle of the Western Hemisphere — that’s perfect for launching terrorist activities (or missiles) against America. Iran’s flea-ridden proxies are involved, too. Last week, for instance, Hezbollah came to call. And consider this: Oil-rich Venezuela gives Iran a means to minimize Obama’s “biting” sanctions, the ones he boasts are so effective at deterring Iran’s ongoing nuclear quest (just as he infamously insisted that “engaging” the mullahs will make them our friends).

While most of America sleeps through this latest Obama outrage, we should listen to a few sensible, intelligent, outspoken exceptions.

Like Romney, who says Chavez, with the Castros, leads  “a destabilizing, anti-democratic, and anti-American ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ across Latin America.”

Or congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). This Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee cited Chavez’s coziness, not just with Iran but with Cuba, Syria, drug cartels, arms traffickers and all kinds of extremists. She’s correct in saying “This Administration continues to bury its head in the sand about threats to U.S. security, our interests, and our allies.” Referring specifically to the Western Hemisphere, Ros-Lehtinen could just as well have been talking about Obama’s gross distortions worldwide.

And Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) who panned Obama’s words as “alarmingly naive.” Regarding the all-too-real threat Chavez poses to America, Rubio says “it’s now disturbingly clear that President Obama has been living under a rock.”

Rubio’s point is well taken and the meaning understood. Unfortunately for all of us, he’s technically incorrect on that last issue; Obama still lives in the White House. Let’s hope America is smart enough — and honest enough — to see through all the mistakes, the mystery, the lies, and serve him with eviction papers on November 6.  Then let him find a suitable rock and move right under.

Michael Podwill’s Viewpoints appear in The DC Post on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He is a freelance writer and a creative marketing/advertising consultant. He can be reached at mpodwill@aol.com or @michaelpodwill on Twitter.