Behold, a South American socialist dictator marveling at how far-left our American president has become. Apparently even Fidel and Hugo can’t believe how quick our dissent into socialism is coming along.

During one of Chavez’s customary lectures on the “curse” of capitalism and the bonanzas of socialism, the Venezuelan leader made reference to GM’s bankruptcy filing, which is expected to give the U.S. government a 60 percent stake in the 100-year-old former symbol of American might.

“Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right,” Chavez joked on a live television broadcast.

We’re well on our way to that point, Hugo. And we have yet to approach card-check, the additional regulations of the private sector likely to come out after the recession ends, environmental regulations that would make tree huggers wince, socialized health care, and the tax-hikes required to pay for all of this endless spending on welfare programs. By 2012, Chavez will look like Milton Friedman by comparison.

And yet those who even dare to bring up “Obama” and “socialism” in the same sentence are mocked as reactionaries, labeled racists, and have just about every other smear in the book applied to them. Don’t expect the attitude of a complicit mainstream media to change just because a South American socialist leader sees the same thing now, either. After all, many in the media, Hollywood, and general left-wing establishment admire where Chavez has brought Venezuala. They’ve been yearning for an American president who’ll do the same to the United States for years.

It would appear they’ve finally got what they’ve wanted.