From yesterday afternoon, a transparent attempt by the Evil Clown to bait The One into taking his side. And darn if it didn’t work.

Just days after reestablishing diplomatic ties with Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez is accusing the U.S. of staging a coup in Honduras as President Obama expressed concern over President Manuel Zelaya’s arrest…

Chavez, who succeeded on his second try to push a similar referendum that allows his indefinite re-election, lashed out at the U.S. and Obama in Caracas, alleging “the Yankee empire had a lot to do” with the “coup d’etat” against his fellow leftist leader.

“I call on the president of the United States to issue a statement as we have, rejecting this affront, which not only goes against Honduras but against all the peoples of Latin America,” Chavez said.

At the risk of exploding what little right-wing blog cred I have left, I can’t believe The One would align himself with Chavez without some compelling reason. Even if you believe the worst conservative suspicions about him, i.e. that he’s some lefty dictator fanboy, the political price he’ll pay for doing this is too steep to justify it unless there’s a greater good he’s aiming at. Witness Drudge’s headline right now (“Obama lashes out at Honduras; sides with Chavez, Castro”) or Krauthammer in the clip below offering a useful rule of thumb for Latin America. Barry’s going to eat a ton of shinola for this — but why? What’s the strategic benefit? Is he so focused on isolating Iran that he’s willing to take Chavez’s side on Honduras in order to peel him away from Ahmadinejad? If so, how does that affect Iran’s nuclear agenda? I don’t get it. The most likely explanation is that Obama’s simply obsessed with “repairing America’s image in the world,” and if that means occasionally taking the side of a Chavista stooge to prove he’s the anti-Bush, then that’s what he’ll do.

Exit question: If the whole government is against Zelaya, why didn’t they just impeach him?