Hugo Chavez Lost. Hugo Chavez Won.

I have been watching the events in Venezuela carefully because I feared that the Chavez machine would manage to push through it's constitutional "reforms" and that would not have been good. No matter how much I like Chavez or approve of his policies only a fool in this day and age, with a full appreciation of history would approve of abolishing term limits.

I cannot imagine if US president George Bush were to be able to run for office again. Constitutional changes ought not happen based on popularity but rather should happen because there is a pressing need that the current constitution does not address. It is of my opinion that the term limit change is a solution looking for a problem. Furthermore such a proposal, even if approved by popular vote only succeeds in making the world think that Chavez is only out for power. Like any good leader, he needed this setback and I'm glad it happened.

This is also a great opportunity for Chavez and his supporters. Now that they know that the people are not having it, the administration and the party is going to have to go about grooming the next generation of leaders that can carry out the party's plans within the current framework. If Chavez and his supporters truly believe that he is needed in order to run the country right, then they have bigger problems than the opposition. A country cannot be effectively lead by a single person. Nor can a country effectively develop if it does not have a framework and leaders able to carry on the business of the state in the best way for the people. Therefore it is encumbent on the current leadership to disentangle the ship of state from the Chavez persona. Hopefully Chavez sees this.

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