July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Manuel Zelaya’s ouster as president of Honduras is dividing Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. at the same time that it is polarizing Hondurans.

Democratic President Barack Obama, a day after Zelaya was physically whisked out of power June 28 by the military, called the ouster illegal. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Zelaya in Washington July 7 and announced negotiations that could facilitate his return.

Clinton refused to meet with a delegation of the Honduran National Congress and the private sector, which is backing Roberto Micheletti, who was installed as the nation’s new president upon Zelaya’s ouster, ignoring an appeal by 17 Republican U.S. senators for her to do so.

Instead, the delegation -- which is receiving assistance from a Washington lawyer, Lanny Davis, to help with its public relations -- found a warm reception among Republicans on Capitol Hill including Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Florida Republican and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“There is a growing consensus that what took place in Honduras on June 28 was a legal process in response to Mr. Zelaya’s repeated constitutional violations and breaches of the rule of law,” Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.

‘Unconstitutional Moves’

Representative Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, introduced a resolution in the House yesterday condemning Zelaya’s “unconstitutional moves that led Honduras on a path toward less freedom.” Today, at a House subcommittee hearing on the crisis in Honduras, Mack criticized the Obama administration for calling Zelaya’s ouster a coup and for urging his reinstatement.

“The administration now stands with the likes of Chavez, Morales, and Ortega -- and not with the Honduran people,” Mack said, referring to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, all of whom support Zelaya.

Representative Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the subcommittee holding today’s hearing, acknowledged he was “troubled” by Zelaya’s moves to alter the constitution. Still, he remained party loyal and sided with Obama and Clinton in saying “the military should not have deposed President Manuel Zelaya.”

Concentrating Power

Engel also expressed a broader concern, aired by many in Washington this week, that Latin American leaders are manipulating democratic institutions and procedures to concentrate more power for themselves.

“I am increasingly troubled by efforts throughout the hemisphere to change constitutions so that leaders of certain countries can stay in power after their terms end,” the New York congressman said. “We must shine a bright light on the dangers of this anti-democratic trend.”

Zelaya’s opponents accused him of ignoring court rulings and seeking to retain power by changing the constitution through a referendum on term limits. He is expected back in Washington later today, a State Department official said.

The pro-Micheletti delegation, which included a former Honduran ambassador to the U.S., a former secretary of state and a current congressman, held a press conference this week at the National Press Club and a press conference call in Washington arranged by Davis’s firm, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Appeal for Bipartisanship

Davis may be best known for serving as special counsel to former President Bill Clinton and publicly defending him during the Monica Lewinsky affair. Davis, who testified at today’s hearing on behalf of a group of businessmen from the Honduran chapter of the Business Council of Latin America, called for bipartisanship in Washington on the Honduras issue.

Adolfo Franco, a former assistant administrator for Latin America at the U.S. Agency for International Development and a backer of Republican presidential nominee John McCain during his presidential run, said if Zelaya returned to Honduras he would find a way to extend his rule.

“He’d do everything to perpetuate himself in power,” Franco said at a forum sponsored by the Council of the Americas in Washington yesterday. “I don’t think he’s eager to return to power for three or four months.”

Franco said Clinton, by refusing to meet the delegation opposed to Zelaya, demonstrated a lack of “understanding of the situation” in Latin America and Honduras.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janine Zacharia in Washington at jzacharia@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 10, 2009 19:29 EDT