Shocking: Hugo Chavez Still Doesn't Like Us!

So much for the whole new era of engagement and face-to-face negotiations with the world's thugs and tyrants. It's been a year now, and what does Barack Obama have to show for his "change" from the Bush administration's diplomatic strategies? Nothing.

This past week, at the international farce otherwise known as the Copenhagen summit, Venezuela's dear leader, Hugo Chavez, received widespread applause for calling capitalism evil. He also launched a series of insults directly at President Obama, labeling him the winner of the Nobel War Prize. My goodness, I'm so surprised that a friendly handshake and a face-to-face chat didn't change Hugo's mind about America.

And the negotiations with Iran...my oh my, I'm stunned that they haven't paid off either. You would think that a couple conversations with Mahmoud's deputies would have convinced the Iranians to stop pursuing nuclear weapons. After all, history clearly shows us that dictators and strongmen are persuaded by logical, rational arguments. Compromise and appeasement...meeting the bad guys halfway...that always works. Just like giving Hitler Czechoslovakia, right Neville?

The realists among us have said it all along: Barack Obama's naive idealism, his faith in the UN, his conviction that all we need to do is sit down with the Chavezes and the Ahmadinejads of the world and explain that we're actually good people who like peace and freedom, simply flies in the face of the way the international system has functioned for centuries. Countries pursue their national interests. Tyrants and thugs don't listen to rational voices.