Mr. President, you’ve made quite a thing of late of running around the world “apologizing” for one perceived past sin of America after another.

But it does no credit to a man – nor to his native manliness – to continually apologize for things in which he was not involved.

It’s long past time for you and your Administration to own up to any spur-of-the-moment misunderstandings, and correct what was done wrong.

In 1989, it would have been unfathomable for any American in a position of political leadership to call for the reinstatement in power in Romania of the dreadful Nikolai Ceausescu (and his equally-dreadful wife Elena).

You need to face up to the situation in Honduras – right now – and not inflict that sort of travesty on the Honduran people.

More below the fold.

During the first few chaotic hours and days of recent events in Honduras, everyone can be forgiven for simply assuming that it was the same-old, same-old of Latin America – coups, juntas, etc.

But as the reality on the ground has made itself clear, we now know that this is not what happened.

The sitting President of Honduras wished to contravene the country’s constitution, so as to remain in office in violation of the constitution’s provisions. When the various constitutional offices and officers reminded him of that fact – and properly exercised their responsibilities to the defense of that constitution – President Zelaya resorted to dismissals, threats, and finally outright mob rule.

What has transpired in Honduras is a proper defense of the constitution against an attempted “auto-golpe” (self-coup) by Mr. Zelaya.

As was better said elsewhere,

The Honduran Supreme Court, congress, attorney general and members of Zelaya’s cabinet opposed his move as unconstitutional. The supreme court ordered the military to remove Zelaya from office. Honduras has no impeachment process as we know it.

. . . .

Now Roberto Micheletti, a member of Zelaya’s own political party, is president of Honduras. Despite protests from Zelaya’s supporters, the nation’s trade unions, business groups, Catholic Church, and most citizens supported Zelaya’s ouster — no one wanted a tyrant, let alone one propped up by drug lords and marxist thugs like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

Mr. President, the Honduran constitution has passed an important test. The constitutional officers and members of the Honduran government have properly used their authority to defend that constitution – and to enforce the rule of law.

Mr. President, these are courageous and proper actions that need to be praised and aided – not mindlessly condemned, let alone (unthinkably) undone.

Mr. President, I do not know why you – and members of your Administration – have been so slow to catch on to the reality of events in Honduras. I realize that Washington inertia often leads to a stability fetish – of not wanting to have to start over from diplomatic scratch with new leaders.

But given that the loudest squealing is coming from America’s worst enemies in the hemisphere – that should give you pause.

Mr. President, many of us remember the dreadful episodes of the 1980s, when many American “leftists” were screaming loudly for our government to abandon our friends in the region – particularly in countries such as El Salvador and…. Honduras – and willfully turn those countries over to the tender mercies of violent communist “revolutionary” groups such as the FMLN. Fortunately, those opinions were loud but in a minority; President Reagan held the line in Central America, and saved those countries from tyranny. Significantly, when the Soviet Union collapsed, all of those “indigenous” (sic) communist insurgency movements simply evaporated.

Mr. President, it will be no credit to you – or to this country and its reputation-and-standing in the world – to essentially try to re-run the 1980s, but with the discredited, failed lunacy of siding with our enemies and abandoning our friends now actually being implemented.

Mr. President, as I said at the outset, it would have been unthinkable for any American leader of any political stripe to insist in 1989, following the deserved ouster of the reviled Ceausescu dictatorship, that Romanians re-instate Nikolai and Elena Ceausescu into power.

Unfortunately, at this point, you and your administration – and a collection of interesting “friends” in the region – are insisting on doing exactly that to the people of Honduras.

If you insist on doing this, ponder that at some point in the future, one of your successors may feel compelled to travel to Tegucigalpa and apologize to the Honduran people for the actions that you and your administration took back in 2009.

Mr. President, you must apologize and change course. There is no time to waste. Both the liberty of the Honduran people and the good name of the United States of America are at stake.

Thank you.