You'd Be Grouchy, Too, If You Were Mexico's President ; When the Going Gets Too Tough, the Tough Deflect

Summary

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It's one of the oldest political tricks in the book: When things aren't going well at home, a leader attempts to divert his people's attention to a foreign evil, thus unifying them against a common enemy and taking their minds off domestic problems. That strategy played out last week in Washington during the state visit of President Felipe Calderon of Mexico.

There Mr. Calderon used two public platforms - his remarks to the press and his speech to Congress - to criticize a democratically enacted law in a state across his border. Aside from the undiplomatic critique of a neighbor's internal affairs, it must be said that the law he chose to criticize is consistent with both U.S. national policy and international laws of state sovereignty and is more lenient than his own country's practice.

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Extract

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You'd Be Grouchy, Too, If You Were Mexico's President ; When the Going Gets Too Tough, the Tough Deflect

To say Mr. Calderon faces severe challenges at home is an understatement. To be fair, he has been effective in leading his country through numerous governmental and economic reforms. ...

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