The recent indictment of Tom Delay, majority
leader in the US House of Representatives puts a new slant on US politics. By
indicting him, this effectively removes him from performing as the Republican
point man in the house. Regardless of what party you may favor, he is
effective in this position. They don't call him "The Hammer" for nothing.
House rules require that a leader under indictment must temporally step down
while the indictment is pending. The fact that the possible infractions of the
law that Delay is being charged with are obscure and understood by few is not
relevant. It is a brilliant piece of strategy by the opposition party to side
line him for as long as it takes to finally settle the matter. In short, a
brilliant piece of Realpolitik.
Of course, we had a bit of the same thing here in México a while back.
You might remember Andres Manuel López Obrador, the former mayor of México
(City), who has now resigned to run for the presidency in 2006. (In México,
you must resign from office to run for election to another office. It is felt
that you can't serve your office while spending time campaigning for another
office. Think about that.)
Lopez (or AMLO as he is known) did and still has the highest poll ratings
for the next presidency. Members of the PAN (the present ruling party), in
fear of his popularity, managed to bring the indictment process to bear on
him. In México, the rules are even stronger than the US on this. Under
indictment he would loose the mayor job and not be able to even think of
running any office. It was an obscure, petty two-bit charge they were
pressing. It backfired as a million people marched in México demanding that
the process be stopped. It worked. The administration folded and the federal
attorney general was named the fall guy and lost his job. AMLO is still
running and is still the poll leader. I don't think that Tom Delay can count
on this happening in his behalf though.
But beyond this, Mexican politics is getting more interesting by the
moment in the lead up to the 2006 election. Consider the following episode:
The setting is a City of México mansion owned by Carlos Salinas (vilified
former president and wannabe political power broker). The time is September
2003. Among those present with Salinas were Roberto Madrazo (then head of the
former ruling PRI party and now presidential contender), Elba Esther Gordillo
(then PRI party leader in the House of Representatives, Secretary General of
the PRI, and leader of the powerful teacher's union) and Paco Gil Diaz
(Treasury Secretary of the ruling party after 2000, the PAN). The object of
the meeting, set up by Salinas, was to come to an inter-party agreement on the
Fox fiscal reform initiative. With no party having a majority in congress, at
least two parties have to support any bill for passage. Fox first denied that
the administration participated in the meeting, but than admitted it. Typical.
Gordillo arrived late for the meting and when she came in, everyone was
standing up saying that they were finished. To quote Gordillo, "That's how
they did fiscal reform".
The fiscal reform did not pass, however, due to the shortsighted
insistence of the PAN to extend the value added tax of 15% to include food and
medicine. This turned out to be a poison pill for the program, and caused
everyone else to distance themselves from this foolishness.
Shortly after that, Madrazo managed to strip Gordillo from her
congressional leadership post for being in collusion with the PAN to try and
foist the fiscal reform bill onto the backs of the Mexican poor. Now, let's
get this straight: The meeting was called by Salinas and attended by Madrazo
and Gil. Gordillo didn't make it to the meeting until it was over. But then,
Gordillo made a good "fall guy" to distance Madrazo from the public uproar
over the bill.
It should also be remembered that Gordillo represents the biggest leader
of opposition to Madrazo within the PRI to his political ambitions. And of
late, there is another PRI fraction that has come together as the "anybody but
Madrazo" fraction. She is still the most politically powerful woman in Mexico.
More recently, Madrazo has managed to have her stripped of the Secretary
General position and successor to the party presidency (which she should have
risen to after the resignation of Madrazo to run for president in the 2006
election).
So, looking at the Tom Delay episode, still to play out in the US, the
Mexicans really know how to play realpolik for keeps compared to the
amateurs in the US.
But there is a subtle and profound difference between the way politics is
played in the US and México. In México, politics is played more as a simple
game in the pursuit of pure power. In the US, it tends to be more of an agenda
based game. In the US, the difference between the left, center and right is
not only extreme, but also highly personal. In México, politicians frequently
change from party to party and tout whatever agenda is required to make the
jump. They change parties like changing a suit of clothes as long as it is in
the interest of gaining personal political power.
And, of course, in México there is more of a "political class" than in
the US.
The one party that was not involved in any of the above shenanigans is
the PRD, the party of AMLO. And so far, he is presenting himself in a manner
not to associate himself with the "political class". Could this be one of the
driving forces that keeps his poll ratings so high?
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Richard N. Baldwin T., a HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/)
contributing columnist, lives in Tlalnepantla, Edo de México. E-mail at:
R1041643422@aol.com
By
Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com