Hugo Chavez & Rico Suave

It's springtime -- and Hugo Chavez says love is in the air between himself and President Obama.

Left-wing wacko Chavez gave Obama his personal stamp of approval yesterday, along with one of his favorite reads -- a detailed look at Latin American politics through 500 years of what it says was US exploitation.

Chavez, a strident critic of George W. Bush's administration, said his meeting with Obama yesterday at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago was "extraordinary."

"I feel great optimism and the best of good will to advance. We have started off on the right foot," Chavez said in a statement.

He said it was time for "a true start of a new history, for there to be balance, that there's an end to the mechanisms of domination."

Just like having your film endorsed by Andy Dick...