[HNA] Jim DeMint get his way with Obama

[Simon Rios]

If this doesn't demonstrate that the Obama administration has supported the
coup in Honduras...I don't know what will...

Citing change in Honduras policy, GOP senator ends holds on nominees

By LESLEY CLARK
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - An outspoken critic of the Obama administration's handling of
the crisis in Honduras dropped his opposition to two State Department
nominees late Thursday, saying the administration has reversed course.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said on the Senate floor that he'd spoken with
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who told him that the administration
would recognize the election Nov. 29 in Honduras "regardless of whether
former President Manuel Zelaya is returned to office."

"I am happy to report the Obama administration has finally reversed its
misguided Honduran policy and will fully recognize the Nov. 29 elections,"
DeMint said, noting that the stance means he'll lift his objection to the
nominations of Arturo Valenzuela to be assistant secretary for Western
Hemisphere affairs and Thomas Shannon to be the U.S. ambassador to Brazil.

At Valenzuela's confirmation hearing July 8, DeMint argued that the
administration had made the wrong call by pushing for ousted Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya's return to power.

But on Thursday, DeMint said that he'd spoken with Clinton and Shannon, who
had told him that the U.S. would recognize the outcome of the Honduran
elections regardless of whether Zelaya is reinstated.

"I take our administration at their word that they will now side with the
Honduran people and end their focus on the disgraced Zelaya," DeMint said.

Zelaya's supporters have promised to disrupt the elections if he doesn't
return to office, and almost all foreign governments have said they won't
recognize the winner of the presidential election unless Zelaya is allowed
to finish serving his term.

Shannon, the State Department's top Latin America diplomat, seemed to
undercut that position Tuesday, however, when he told CNN en Espanol that
last week's agreement between Zelaya and interim President Roberto
Micheletti meant that the Obama administration would recognize the winner
regardless of whether the Honduran Congress voted to restore Zelaya.
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