Except for some innuendo in the mainstream press that the Republicans are “desperate” for an issue to use in the presidential campaign, Obama’s mind-boggling statement about Marxist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela not having “a serious national security impact” on the United States is getting little national media attention. But like the private conversation with outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in March, the comments about Chavez, who operates Venezuela as a satellite of Communist Cuba, are nothing less than a scandal.