Good News from Mexico: Democracy is working

Its been a year since the ultraclose Mexican Presidential election installed Felipe Calderón in Los Pinos and AMLO (Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, aka Peje) in the Zócolo protesting. At the time prospects were not good for the second post-PRI presidency. Calderon seemed defensive and not dynamic and the charismatic Peje was promising to overturn the election and/or run a shadow government.

AMLO is still out there plugging his new book (La Mafia nos robó la Presidencia) and trying to rally the faithful, but it is no longer working. Calderon has been able to work with the Congress in a way his predecessor Vicente Fox never could and enjoys a 65% popularity rating, while many of Peje's erstwhile supporters say that if they had it to do over again, they would not vote for him.

In 2000, Vicente Fox's election made Mexico a real Democracy and the 2006 election has helped that new Democracy mature. This is good news from south of the border.