Pundits say the dardnest things
Post-election media watching
Since Sunday night, I’ve spent much more time than I should watching and reading media reports on our election, and the speculations on what it means. Left, right, centerist — from Mexico, the US, Britain, Spain, Argentina (and the English or Spanish German and French foreign broadcasts), and all around Internet-istan — I was more interested in the trends among the pundocracy than any particular villain, so most of what I’m going to write will be generic. I’ll try to link to at least some of the sources, but forgive me if after looking at 30 or 40 or 50 podcasts, articles, comments, I can’t even remember where or who said some things.
Sheinbaum is Jewish?!
I had predicted months ago, when it was already obvious who was going to be the next presidentm that heads would explode in the US when they figured out Mexico’s president was a “skinny Jewish woman scientist”. And I was right. Natually, the US media correspondents all had to throw in “In this Catholic country…” on top of that, as if it wasn’t — as Mexican media reported — unusual not just in having the two front runners both women, but that one of the women is an academic. I spent more time than it was worth pointing out in comment sections that Mexican voters neither care, nor ask, about religion when it comes to politics— and the few that do care that Sheinbaum ethnicity presumes a non-Christian religion weren’t going to vote for her or her party or other reasons anyway. Some wannabe “radical” livestreamer whose act seems to be pushing a “leftier than thou” schtick when interacting with on-line messages (Hassanabi, in an episode entired “This is Historic”) blathered back and forth asking himself if Sheinbaum was, or wasn’t a Zionist. Presumbably if she is, she’d not lefty enough for Hassanabi,although as far as I can tell, she never has really said anything about Zionism, which doesn’t have anything to do with the Mexican election anyway.
Macho, marcho man…
How “machismo” differs from sexism has always eluded me, but then I’ve speculated on this (the word itself) before. The English language writers all bring up the “macho culture” or “machismo” as if that word alone defines very real gender issues … in a country where the two main coalition tickets were fronted by women, where the Chief Justice, the Interior Minister, and a higher percentage of the legislature (thanks in good part to gender equity rules in selecting candidates for electorial seats),etc. are women. And, in a part of the world that has had women presidents — from the left, right, and center — going back to the 1970s1. Yes, femicides and domestic violence are issues here, and yes, a woman president will be expected to put more emphasis on resolving those issues, amd, yes, it hasn’t been “front and center” under the present administration (to put it mildly), but had the unthinkable happened, and Galvéz been elected, the same trope would have been reported (with it also added that Galvéz is indigenous — or partly so [though so were Porfirio Diaz and Victoriano Huerta… best not mentioned] and presumably Catholic [or Christian, depending on the audience she spoke to that day]).
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?
The Femicide question brings up another of the memes from the “usual suspects”… that Sheinbaum, that while she may put more focus on specifically feminist concerns than AMLO, she’s just a “puppet” and AMLO will continue pulling the strings.
Some of this… maybe most of it… is a sort of “Great Man of History” reading of Mexican history in general. As if AMLO was some anomoly — good or bad — and not that he just happened to be in the right place, with the right skill set, at the right time… not that there weren’t other people with the right skill set, or find themselves in the right place at the right time, either. With their very different upbringing and “baggage” for lack of a better word, AMLO and Sheinbaum are different people, with different priorities in some areas, but both emerging from a broader movement going back to the 1960s that only emerged as a full-blown political party in the last few years. One of the more amazing parts of this story is that Morena, as a political party, has only been in existence since 2014 (before that, it was a “Civic Association” — a club) . While most of Morena’s leaders had been with the PRD, itself having begun as a reform movement within the PRI (meaning, that obviously, many of the party leaders were formerly PRI rank and file), as the PRD proved itself to be unable to win elections outside its own strongholds with Mexico City, and with “tribalism” (various local or single issue leaders vying to control the party) and it’s willingness to take small concessions to its agenda in otder to claim some relevance nationally, it just wasn’t a viable party for the long haul.
While AMLO was the most visible of the PRD leadership — and the most flamboyant (again, maybe Louisiana — known for it’s … ahem… colorful political figures — might be analogous) — and successful of its politicians. But, in no way, the only party leader or the only one recognizing the PRD’s shortfalls.
While it was less a “all for Obrador” movement, he was a key figure in bringing together those both dissatisfied with the PRD and the much larger body of those outside the party who recognized the long drift away from what had once ben the “radical” democratic vision of the Revolution, or who were disappoointed that a mere change in political party affiation at the top (as with Fox’s PAN victory in 2000) did nothing but move the “overton window”2. The left … if it was going to have relevance needed to rethink it’s politics, with a broader appeal, less dependent on the narrow concerrns of whatever individual was at the front of the party at the time.
The bumptious AMLO then, while he has his quicks and crotchets (which he used to his advantage quite well, mind you) was only the best known of a pool of talented individuals. People who might have their specific agenda, but overall would … and did… support a braoder movement for change, and for a more egalitarian political structure.
That AMLO came out of the backwaters of Tabasco (think Louisiana for a US analogy) — although it made him committed to the betterment of the poor — also meant he wa a social conservative. Still, while perhaps specific programs near and dear to others in the movement might be delayed (abortion and marriage equality to take two examples), the left as a whole, were willing to back him. Given Sheinbaum’s very different background… a product of the secular urban academic class, a woman in a “mans field” (engineering), raised in a political active family… of course she’s going to do things differently than AMLO.
Surprisingly, the best piece in US media I found on this was from an on-line magazine that proudly proclaims its political stance is “centerist”… and in the US, where the center is much futher to the right than in Mexico:
The president-elect is less heterodox than her mentor, who has shown a profound respect for the conservatism of the Mexican masses. He is prone to moralistic and religious rhetoric, has single-handedly blocked the legalization of marijuana, and is currently promoting a constitutional ban on the use of vapes. In all likelihood, Sheinbaum will lead a far more conventionally progressive administration that gives greater priority to activist causes.
Rojas, Juan David, “Mexico’s Political Revolution”, Compact, 3 June 2024.
Does it need to be said that those “liberal” or “woke” issues can be addressed under a Sheinbaum adminstration, that isn’t all that opposed to what have been turned out to be niche concerns and hardly at the forefront of the thinking of people who are more concerned with whether or not they can support their grandmother, or find a decent apartment, and less concerned with whether the neighbor is trans, or what the Bishop thinks.
How do you like it? More! More! More!
When the claim that Sheinbaum is “AMLO’s puppet” or maybe “Mini-AMLO in a dress” comes up, it’s usually framed in the sense that she’ll just continue the projects he initiated, or implement those he proposed, but never was able to push though. And that’s bad, why?
Some of this is just grumbling about projects that have been criticized — the second airport for Mexico City at a different location that originally intended, the Mayan Train — are presented as either wrong in their conception3, or a sign of “incepite dictottorship” given they were built using military engineers, and several governmental functions were turned over to military control. Especially the national police.
At the same time, the critics in the foreign (and “Mexican mainstream” media) carp that the government doesn’t do enough to stamp out “cartels” and,while not openly said, suggests the previous stategies, or those favored by the United States, should be pursued.
Centrainly, there are questions that can be asked about the military running an airline, or the Navy running the customs service, or whether the Guardia Nacional shouldn’t be under civillian, rather than military, government department. No one is being prvented from raising the issue,nor pursuing an alternative. And, I can see the miltiary leadership (the Deprtment of National Defense) not wanting to maintain things like railroads or hotels or even responsiblity for policing. That Sheinbaum inherited them,and that they are popular moves (for now) does not mean she and her goverment will simply expand the military into more areas,other than maybe using those Army Engineers the same way they have been traditionally used in other nations (including the US). After all, she’s an engineer at the head of the government with its own construction company… who do you expect her use to build stuff?
And build stuff she will probably want to do. Sheinbaum continually talked about a “Segundo Piso” to the “4th Transformation”… US commentators seemed to miss the context of the statment. Sheinbaum’s political fame large came as a result of building a “segundo piso” in Mexico City… a massive public works project during her tenure as the City’s Secretary of the Enviroment that saw elevated roadways (a “second story”… Segundo Piso) to clear out traffic congenstion, lower pollution levels (cars weren’t stuck on the highways idling during “crush hour”), speed commuting time, and provide a route for public transit vehicles (increasingly EV buses, by the way) to reduce commuter trafic and commuting time for those in outlying areas of the city.
Yes… things will be different. How the “cartels” are to be tamed, whether judges should be elected (as AMLO proposed) and how to get a handle on “corruption” (and how to define it) aren’t may or may not be tackled in the same way under this administration as they have been (or not been, as some claim) by the outgoing one. But none of this means Sheinbaum IS AMLO-lite, only that we can expect more change for what one hopes is the better.
Isabel Martinez de Peron (Argentina, 1974-76), Lydia Guillar Tejada (Bolivia, 1979-80) …
The theory that the “mainstream” is pulled left or right depending on the country’s leadership at the time.
Cancelling the airport at the original location… a wetland … was a blessing. Had it been built not only would our present water shortage have been worse, so would the heat with that massive body of water acting as a heat sink, and not a mass of paved runways reflecting back even more heat.
Building the train did come at some environmental costs, but so would keeping that US gravel mine open, and opening land for less eco-friendly tourism, or focing local residents to rely on unsound agricultural methods to survive.