By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
Communist Vietnam's "President" Nguyen Minh Triet's viscid propaganda op-ed piece, "Vietnam and America common interests and values" (The Washington Times, Page A-17, June 25) showed a lack of creativity: It is almost word-for-word his full-page ad on Page A-19 of the June 21 edition of The Washington Post, "A Letter from President Nguyen Minh Triet of Vietnam."
For the first time since the government of South Vietnam fell, a Vietnamese president visited the White House. Invited by President Bush during his trip to Saigon last November, President Nguyen Minh Triet touted the recent economic progress his country has made, and pushed for further cooperation between our two countries.
A disagreement yesterday between President Bush and his Vietnamese counterpart over Hanoi's human rights record cast a shadow over the first visit to the White House by a leader of the communist nation since the Vietnam War.
Today, Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet will visit the United States. This is the first time a head of state from Vietnam has visited the U.S. since before the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975.
Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet is scheduled to meet with President Bush at the White House today to discuss trade in a visit overshadowed by the booming Southeast Asian country's poor human rights record.
From combined dispatches
