Analysis: Obama's stand on the Honduran coup

'Not always stood as it should'
Speaking of the past, Obama noted that the U.S. has "not always stood as it should" with democracies in the region. That, too, seemed to draw on the doctrine he promised to the region while in Trinidad in April, a view that the U.S. strengthens its hand by confessing when it has strayed from its own values.

Reinforcing the president's message, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that the U.S. had spoken out on the Honduran situation to put to rest "any rumors that we were in any way involved in this."

"Despite whatever political disagreements you might have, there are democratic norms that have to and should be followed," Gibbs said.

Jose Raul Perales, a Latin American scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, said Obama's response to the crisis was prompt and in unison with leaders of the hemisphere and beyond. Obama can bring considerable leverage to the matter and add credibility to an emerging regional response, he said.

But there are still bigger problems in Honduras — the failed democratic institutions that led the nation to resort to a military coup. The conflict came about after a referendum Zelaya had called in defiance of Honduras' courts and Congress, one seen as a way for him to stay in power beyond his term limit.

That means even if Obama can help lead a brokered peace, deeper issues remain. "The tensions will persist regardless of the outcome," Perales said.

Tensions are rising
Those tensions are rising in a conflict still in its early hours. Leftist leaders pulled their ambassadors from Honduras. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for Hondurans to rise up against those who toppled his ally, Zelaya. The U.S. has not yet yanked aid or any envoys.

As Obama has with Iran — a deadly conflict of greater proportions — he has kept an emphasis on the rights of the people.

"I think what's ultimately most important is that the people feel a sense of legitimacy and ownership, and that this is not something imposed on them from the top," Obama said. He added there must not be "rigging of the electoral process or repression of opposition voices."

Obama's message seemed more blunt than that of his secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, earlier in the day. But they both emphasized the broader point of returning constitutional order.

When Clinton was asked directly whether the U.S. was insisting on Zelaya's return to power, she said, "We haven't laid out any demands that we're insisting on."

Obama has not faced the same question. Yet.

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