A year after defeat, Mexican leftist fades away (ObraGore .. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador)

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 7/1/07 | Catherine Bremer

[NormsRevenge]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The leftist who a year ago was a hair's breadth from winning Mexico's presidency was reduced to political artifact on Sunday, drawing a fraction of his old crowds to an anniversary rally.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who insists his razor-thin defeat to Felipe Calderon in the July 2, 2006, election was rigged, has spent most of the past year crisscrossing Mexico to declare himself the "legitimate president."

While Sunday's rally attracted tens of thousands of people, numbers were far fewer than the estimated 300,000 who turned out for Lopez Obrador in the run-up to the election in some of the biggest political marches ever seen in Mexico.

Ordinary Mexicans say the leftist former indigenous rights activist has dropped off the political map.

"It is not the same; there are very few people. He lost and I don't think he will be back," said Raul Coronel, 36, a street sweeper at the rally. "He should have ended this whole circus long ago," said Raymundo Aroyo, 27, a bookseller.

A poll in Mexico's Reforma Group newspapers on Sunday said 31 percent of those who voted for Lopez Obrador a year ago would not vote for him again. Almost half of those polled said Calderon's presidency had so far been better than expected.

Lopez Obrador's down-to-earth persona, austere lifestyle and populist rhetoric earned him a huge following. For months he led opinion polls and alarmed Wall Street analysts who were concerned he would threaten Mexico's economic stability.

But Calderon, a bespectacled conservative, won by 0.58 percentage point, and despite months of sit-in protests by Lopez Obrador's followers, Mexico's top electoral court eventually ruled that Calderon had won fairly.

"I say, we say again: We won the presidential election," said Lopez Obrador, who used the rally to plug his new book "La mafia nos robo la presidencia" ("The mafia stole the presidency from us").

The 2006 election was the first since conservative Vicente Fox's election win in 2000 ended 71 years of one-party rule.

It split Mexico along class lines, with Lopez Obrador painting himself as champion of the half of Mexicans who live on less than $5 a day. Many feared Calderon's slender victory would mean leftist protests could disrupt his government.

But despite only scraping into power, Calderon is enjoying sturdy popularity ratings -- 65 percent in a recent poll -- and has impressed many with an army crackdown on drug cartels and by swiftly passing a critical pension reform.

[NormsRevenge]

A year already? Wow.

Former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves to supporters during a rally at Mexico City's Zocalo July 1, 2007. Lopez Obrador, the leftist who a year ago was a hair's breadth from winning Mexico's presidency was reduced to political artifact on Sunday, drawing a fraction of his old crowds to an anniversary rally. (Daniel Aguilar/Reuters)

[montag813]

The way Mexico behaves now, perhaps it would be good to get a Commie in power down there. Confiscate Carlos Slim’s cash and seize the oil industry and turn the money over to the poor. Then perhaps the “migrants” will stay home and Mexico can stop using us as their outsourced welfare system.

[nj26]

Nobody likes a Sore Loserman.

[furquhart]

Yeah, because communist regimes never set off the mass flight of people over the border.

If you’ve got any sense, you should look fondly upon the job that Calderon is doing. It’s, by far, the best chance of getting a large number of Mexicans to go home.

[Disambiguator]

Yeah, because communist regimes never set off the mass flight of people over the border.

At least they build walls to keep them in, though. That would save us the trouble and expense.

[3AngelaD]

At least Carlos Slim has produced a product and sold a legitimate service, unlike some of the ladrones who simply helped themselves to the public treasury. I am not a huge fan of Carlos Slim, but he is a capitalist in the sense that we understand it and, I have to say, a more productive person than many of “our” billionaires, George Soros coming to mind. The last thing we need is a Hugo Chavez in Mexico. If you think we are overrun by Mexicans now, a leftist of that ilk in power in Mexico would send, at the least, 50 percent of those left running for the border. By the way, the government seized the oil industry in the 1930s and that is why it is such a mess.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Demand a border fence! Build it NOW!! Beef up the border patrol and close our borders!

U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121

U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121

White House comments: (202) 456-1111

Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep

Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Toll free to the US Senate:

1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)

Courtesy of a pro-amnesty group, no less!!

[montag813]

The last thing we need is a Hugo Chavez in Mexico. If you think we are overrun by Mexicans now, a leftist of that ilk in power in Mexico would send, at the least, 50 percent of those left running for the border.

I was not being serious. But it does piss me off that Mexico makes money hand over fist from their resources, does not open their oil industry to foreigners, and has a disgraceful level of poverty that is a result of its corruption. I don't give a rat's ass about Carlos Slim. I resent my country being used as Mexico's outsourced welfare system.

[3AngelaD]

I resent the people who run my country allowing it to be used as Mexico’s outsourced welfare system. Let’s put the blame where it belongs, squarely in the lap of every U.S. elected official, local, state and national, who has looked the other way over the past 20 years while the Mexican government was doing the outsourcing. The people who were supposed to be looking out for the interests of American citizens failed completely.