Chavez, Ortega and why conservatism means never having to say you’re sorry

Conservatives are up in arms these days over President Barack Obama’s apology in Europe for America’s “arrogance.”

They’re also furious over his handshake and conversation with Venezuela’s elected president, Hugo Chavez.

Fox News has also reported that Obama sat through a 50-minute diatribe against the U.S. from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a socialist.

In a Fox interview, Newt Gingrich argued that Obama was aiding the “enemies of America.”

“Frankly, this does look a lot like Jimmy Carter. Carter tried weakness, and the world got tougher and tougher, because the predators, the aggressors, the anti-Americans, the dictators – when they sense weakness, they all start pushing ahead,” Gingrich said on Fox & Friends.

Gingrich also jabbed at Obama for his “bow to the Saudi king.”

The dust-up comes at the same time that Democrats were releasing memos detailing America’s extensive use of torture in the war on terror. Here’s the NY Times editorial take:

To read the four newly released memos on prisoner interrogation written by George W. Bush’s Justice Department is to take a journey into depravity.

So what do you think? Is Obama showing weakness around the world? Rejecting American exceptionalism? Revealing American war tactics?

Or crafting a more nuanced foreign policy? Returning morality to our defense policy? Comments welcome below…