Friday

México has a new president. This morning, Felipe Calderón ran in the back door of the congressional building amongst a phalanx of ruling party lawmakers, mounted the speaker's podium amid catcalls and jeers, sped through an oath almost inaudible above the riotous din, and was then whisked away to the other side of town for a securely televised national address.* Luckily, México is a very wide town. ALMO was left protest-marching around the national Zócalo. Full-grown congressmen came to fisticuffs in the legislative arena. But, he did it: he's now president. Earlier in the week he named an interior secretary destined to crack down on situations like those in the Zócalo and Oaxaca. Do actions speak as loudly as words today? By the time Calderón delivered his address, his tone was predominantly conciliatory: straying from the conservative economic party-line of the PAN, he attempted to unify red and blue México by asserting his desire for progressive healthcare and scholarship programs, stressing the need to strengthen México's economic infrastructure to a point where its workforce no longer relies on employment opportunities in the US. This is actually an interesting move; he seems to be subtly distancing himself from Fox's six years of attempted immigration reform--seeking to staunch the flow from this side of the fence. This is very much in the spirit of cooperation with the interests of the United States right now, but also seems squarely in the best interest of México. In any event, his excellent lip service to the concerns of opposition parties, probably requisite in a country where rarely will anyone be elected with majority support, was likely fomented over these last five solid month of political protest. Because of this, he may very well be a better president for all of AMLO's haranguing. [Cavin]