Chavez vs. Bush

As President Bush starts a five-nation trip to Latin America today, he will be stalked by Venezuela's oil-rich autocrat Hugo Chavez, who likes to call Bush "the devil" and to refer to the United States as "the empire." When Bush makes his first stop in Brazil, Chavez will be in neighboring Argentina leading an anti-Bush rally. When Bush calls on ally Colombia, Chavez will be in Bolivia. And so it will go.

Chavez wants a public competition, which Bush seems tempted to join. In a speech this week, Bush laid claim to the legacy of Venezuelan freedom fighter Simon Bolivar, and he announced a plan to send doctors to give free medical care in the region, much as Chavez is dispatching Cuban doctors.

But the truth of the matter is that neither Bush nor Chavez is much liked in Latin America — and for all the oil money Chavez is throwing around, few want to ally with him. What's needed is a laser-like focus on the deeper causes of an anti-American, leftist tide that has been sweeping the region and gave Chavez Venezuela's presidency.

For all of Bush's unpopularity, the United States retains enormous influence. Trade is expanding, and burgeoning Hispanic immigration is adding deep personal ties, just as it once did with the Irish and Italians.

But the United States has focused its attention elsewhere since 9/11, and in that time, disillusionment has set in with the U.S.-favored policies once expected to turn the region into a post-Cold War oasis of stability and democracy. The policies — of capitalism, democracy, free trade and tough austerity measures to pay off large debts — are blamed in many South American countries for economic hardships and wide disparities between rich and poor. Bush's failure to follow up on early promises to focus on the region has further swelled a "pink tide" of leftist leaders.

There's a simple if long-term answer: Deal with South American countries with the pragmatism they most want, while helping them adjust to the ups and downs of capitalism. Bush's agenda makes a promising beginning. In Brazil, he will focus on ethanol, which Brazil and the United States are developing as an alternative fuel. In Mexico, immigration is on the agenda. In Colombia, the focus is on the long-standing anti-drug effort.

As former governor of Texas, Bush rightly boasted as he became president that he understood the issues. That attention was derailed by 9/11 and the Iraq war. It isn't too late to get it back on track — with the first task to ignore Chavez's taunts.