Chavez sinking

A new slogan appearing on the T-shirts and banners of anti-government protesters in Venezuela sums up a growing sentiment about President Hugo Chavez after 11 years in power: "You struck out."

The list of strikes against Chavez keeps growing: Latin America's worst inflation, increased blackouts, runaway violent crime and a scandal involving bankers close to his government.

The socialist-inspired governing model that Chavez calls his Bolivarian Revolution — named after 18th-century independence leader Simon Bolivar — is weakened and hobbling. And though Chavez retains close ties with a bloc of leftist governments from Bolivia to Nicaragua, many Latin Americans don't see Venezuela's oil-funded populism as viable.

Among Venezuelans, Chavez's popularity slipped below 50 percent in polls late last year.

http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2010/01/hugo_chavezs_oil-fueled_social.html

Ironically, Chavez is probably more popular among Obama administration appointees than among the Venezuelan people.