As much as I detest zero, he is correct. Chavez is the Mouth That Roared; IOW all hat and no cattle.
From the time he was electd, Chavez has crossed the globe to link up with various dictators in an effort to make himself relevant. So far, he is still just an annyance to most of the world and the only threat he poses is with his mouth.
The Venezuelan military is a bit of a joke - there were some high-profile purchases of advanced Russian equipment early in Chavez’s reign but most of those appear to be inoperable - and the supposed purchase of Kilo submarines appears to be dead.
In the grand scheme of the universe Venezuela in fact isn’t much of a threat to the US. There have been no terrorist attacks or attempts linked to Iranians or Hezbollah operating out of Venezuela; not to say there couldn’t be in the future, but those guys operate in a lot of places.
I’m not sure what people want or expect the President to say about Venezuela. I do know the US military doesn’t exactly toss and and turn at night worrying about Venezuela, and I’m sure Obama’s comments simply reflect what he’s been briefed.