Obama denounces Honduras ouster as 'not legal'

By GottaLaff

Getty Images 3 weeks ago

An army sniper in full cammo gear lies on the ready by the dais from where Honduran President Manuel Zelaya delivers a speech June 8, 2009 in Tegucigalpa, during the farewell ceremony for the Honduran unit to be deployed to Lebanon with the Spanish contingent. Several snipers kept a perimeter around Zelaya after a rumor of an possible coup d'etat spread during the weekend.

Fast forward 3 weeks:

President Obama has nothing on his plate, nothing at all. Sigh.

Add these developments to his To Do List:

Saying the U.S. does "not want to go back to a dark past," President Obama said Monday that the military ouster of President Manuel Zelaya was "not legal."

Meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in the Oval Office, Obama said the two men has discussed the coup and "all of us have great concerns." [...]

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that the U.S. believes the situation in Honduras "has evolved into a coup." [...]

Obama responded to the event Sunday in a statement. "I am deeply concerned by reports coming out of Honduras regarding the detention and expulsion of President Mel Zelaya," Obama said. "As the Organization of American States did on Friday, I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference."

Clinton said in a Sunday statement that Zelaya's expulsion "should be condemned by all."