Somebody: I agree about Chavez, but let's be real. Saying he's managing a capitalist state is pretty redundant. In 2011, there are no anti-capitalist states. None. Not even Cuba or North Korea, which are both now oriented towards the restoration of market economies.
The hopeful left can trumpet the popular movements of the Middle East all it wants, but as anyone can see, the revolutions and waves of protest there are directed towards establishing parliamentary democracy, nothing more and nothing less. That should be, or will have to be, good enough.