When is a coup not a coup? I guess when President Obama says so.

So never mind that President Obama is on the wrong side of the Honduras issue. And if you’re unsure of that just look at the company he’s keeping on this issue in Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro and see Patrick’s piece on Honduras for Dummies.
But Obama’s words in this issue show he does not yet understand that words have meaning when you’re the President of the United State.

In a Reuters piece, Obama says of Honduras: “We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there,” Obama told reporters after an Oval Office meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

But then, according to Reuters, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was sent out to say the administration was not formally designating the ouster as a military coup for now, a step that would force a cut-off of most U.S. aid to Honduras.

So President Obama says it’s a coup and then Clinton comes out saying it’s not officially a coup and then Clinton adds this puzzling line.

“We do think that this has evolved into a coup,” Clinton told reporters, adding the administration was withholding that determination for now. Asked if the United States was currently considering cutting off aid, Clinton shook her head no.

All I can say is huh?