Cowboy brings Mexico a new leadership style

But until the Fox election, Mexico lagged behind other Latin American democracies that had already experienced orderly handovers in executive power. Now Mexico stands as a "shining example of constitutional order," Ms. Baer says, with a president committed to ruling not by steamrolling other powers, such as Congress, but by working with them.

For some Fox critics, especially from the left, initiatives like the opening of Los Pinos and street-kid breakfasts are only a confirmation of what they have long feared as Fox's style trumping substance.

But others say these programs reveal a leader with a particular vision for achieving national progress, advocating both small and larger ideas. "I'd call it depth of change through an original style," says Liberty House's Ms. Ruano, who first knew Fox as a young man who organized sports at the home for indigent children where she grew up.

"Sure there's some fluff in what [Fox] is doing, but we also shouldn't forget that when he took over Coca Cola here, it was No. 2 in Mexico, behind Pepsi," says Mexico City political analyst Federico Estevez. "When he was done, it was No. 1. And how did he do that? He had a vision, created a team to help him, and followed the vision with a vengeance."

Some elements of that vision are going to be a hard sell to Congress, especially initiatives like opening the electrical energy sector to foreign investment, which nationalist and reform-averse sectors of Mexican society see as the true thrust of Fox's heavily entrepreneurial government.

Fox knew all along some of his proposals would not be swallowed easily, which is why he has said since his election-night victory that he would form a government with talent from all of Mexico's political forces. But the time it took to form his Cabinet and its final composition, unveiled last week, show he was unable to do that.

Now some analysts say he will face a strengthening opposition from the left, where Baer says the "long-lost cousins" of the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party and its more-left-wing offshoot, the Party of the Democratic Revolution, will increasingly team up.

But Fox's gubernatorial experience shows he knows how to sit down with opponents and hammer out a deal preserving the essentials of what he wants. He also comes into office with high public support.

"He'll be willing to spend his honeymoon capital on tough decisions, like tax reform," says Baer. As he moves to build the new Mexico he envisions, Fox starts with one advantage no Mexican president has had for three decades: He isn't taking office with an economic crisis breathing down his neck.

"For the first time in 30 years, a Mexican president is taking office with no dark clouds on the horizon, either economic or political," says Mr. Estevez. "Most Mexicans alive today have never known this in a presidential transition. It's a tremendous advantage for Fox," he adds, "and it's the reason he'll be able to hit the ground running."

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society

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