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Caribbean-Latin America
López Obrador's support dwindling
2006-09-06
In the days after ballot results showed him losing an agonizingly close presidential election, candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador was in fine form, leading the largest rallies Mexico has ever seen and convincing most Mexicans of the need for a recount. Six weeks later, the Mexican public has largely turned its back on the charismatic leftist, who has been transformed into a marginal figure -- to a degree even within his own party. If the July 2 election were held now, conservative Felipe Calderón would trounce López Obrador by 24 percentage points, a recent newspaper poll showed.

Some analysts say the former Mexico City mayor has done irreparable harm to his political career by sowing unrest and refusing to accept the constitutional rules for resolving the close election. Mexico in 2006 is often compared to the disputed U.S. presidential election of 2000 between George Bush and Al Gore, where results in Florida and elsewhere were questioned. Initial results showed Calderón with a razor thin lead amid allegations of balloting irregularities.

“He has become a person whose actions prove what his critics were afraid of -- that he won't abide by the rules...”
The difference is that López Obrador, 53, has refused to recognize the authority of the court that ruled against him or concede defeat in the name of political harmony, analysts say. The metaphor often used in the Mexican press is that of a martyr, burning himself alive. ''One thing is for certain,'' wrote political columnist José María Carmona last week in the Change of Michoacan newspaper. ``The political career of López Obrador is entering its final phase.''
Posted by:Fred

#5  Give it up, please, Obra-gore. Just head on down to Caracas and make out with your pal Hugo and leave the rest of the world the hell alone.
Posted by: mcsegeek1   2006-09-06 14:43  

#4   López Obrador's support dwindling Time to cut off the other leg
Posted by: Cheaderhead   2006-09-06 14:14  

#3  ...You know, the sad part is that when the Revolution does come to Mexico (and I fear it will much faster now than the 10-15 years I was giving it before)it's going to be even uglier. And jackasses like Mr. Klain will be among those to blame.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2006-09-06 12:13  

#2  The special counsel for the Gore-Lieberman Recount Committee in 2000, Ronald Klain, was disgraceful on this score when he wrote in the July 9 Washington Post that Mr. López Obrador should "call his supporters to the streets and question the legitimacy of the vote casting and counting process. . . . Above all, he must reject any suggestion that Calderón received more votes--indeed, he must insist that any fair count would show that he is the rightful winner."

About sums it up. Fortunately, here in U.S. the crazies don't go into the streets anymore (except maybe SF), they run to their computers to spit out their bile.
Posted by: DoDo   2006-09-06 11:52  

#1  Today's Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Calderón, who will take office on December 1, had won a narrow plurality of votes in the fiercely fought July 2 election. But second-place finisher Andrés Manuel López Obrador has refused to accept the results, charging fraud and promoting civil unrest to force the tribunal to nullify the results. More than a few Mexican power-brokers have privately hoped for a similar outcome--which was all too imaginable in a country that only six years ago ended 70 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

So the conclusion of the seven-judge tribunal ought to be a moment of pride for Mexicans. It is a sign of political maturity that even such a close election can be fairly adjudicated. The tribunal had sponsored partial recounts in contested precincts, but in the end reduced Mr. Calderon's victory margin by only a few thousand votes. The result confirms the election-day judgment of foreign observers, who called the vote one of the cleanest they'd seen. Some one million Mexicans had voluntarily manned polling places on election day.

The challenge now is for all Mexicans to accept these results so that Mr. Calderón is able to govern. . . .

There's also a role here for the rest of the world, especially for U.S. political leaders who should be supporting Messrs. Fox and Calderón now that the tribunal has spoken. The special counsel for the Gore-Lieberman Recount Committee in 2000, Ronald Klain, was disgraceful on this score when he wrote in the July 9 Washington Post that Mr. López Obrador should "call his supporters to the streets and question the legitimacy of the vote casting and counting process. . . . Above all, he must reject any suggestion that Calderón received more votes--indeed, he must insist that any fair count would show that he is the rightful winner."

Mr. López Obrador seems to have taken that bad advice, at great potential cost to Mexican stability and democracy. It's time for Yankees who care about our southern neighbor to stop using Mexico 2006 as an excuse to settle scores from Florida 2000 and start reinforcing the vital institutions of Mexican democracy. The last thing the U.S. needs is an unstable, ungovernable Mexico.
Posted by: Mike   2006-09-06 10:20  

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