EXICO CITY, Sept. 1 — President Vicente Fox pleaded with Mexico's Congress tonight to "give democracy a chance" by letting him deliver on his promises to transform the nation.
Mr. Fox gave a state of the union speech that was long on ideals of liberty and justice, but short on single-handed solutions for poverty and inequality.
After 21 months in power, Mr. Fox said he knows "that Mexico demands better results."
Acknowledging that at least half its 100 million people are poor, he said he could not solve their needs by himself. He urged Congress, his audience, to stop blocking his unrealized plans for fiscal, social and economic reform.
"This is the hour for concord," he said. "Democratic cooperation is the watchword."
He repeated, as if reciting a prayer, "Let's give democracy a chance."
"The nation faces challenges beyond the power of any one political force to solve them," he said. "People hope for more than democracy. They are impatient with discord. They want a democracy that works, fundamental social change and a just economic order."
Tonight's speech was in part a long reprise of Mr. Fox's one great achievement — the fact that his election two years ago ended seven decades of one-party rule — and a recitation of his admittedly insufficient accomplishments.
Mexico is indeed becoming a democracy, rather than the autocracy it was. But this means that Mr. Fox has less power than any previous president. Despite his desire to lift the standard of living, the nation still has one foot in the developed world and the other mired in deep poverty.
Mr. Fox promised to help create millions of new jobs. Hundreds of thousands have been lost instead. He promised 7 percent annual economic growth. The economy is flat.
Much can be blamed on the economic downturn in the United States, which buys nearly 90 percent of Mexico's exports. But Mr. Fox also has repeatedly announced social and political accomplishments before actually achieving them.
Though change has long been Mr. Fox's mantra, tonight he also congratulated Mexico for stability in perilous times.
"Amid economic and political turbulence that threatens many nations, Mexico has managed to strengthen and protect what it has," he said.
In fact, the peso is as stable as it ever has been, while inflation and interest rates are the lowest in three decades.
That does little to help the 50 million Mexicans with no money. The number of people living in absolute poverty in Mexico, scraping by on $4 or less a day, has increased during Mr. Fox's presidency.
Still, polls show that a popular majority supports Mr. Fox. But a majority of Congress opposes him. César Camacho, a senator from the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary party, said tonight: "Optimism's over. People are losing patience."
The Legislature, where no party holds a majority, has blocked every important change Mr. Fox has proposed for Mexico's economy, particularly his plans to kick-start oil, gas and electricity production through foreign investment.
Unless he accelerates Mexico's progress before next year's congressional elections, his opposition may grow — and the high hopes he raised both among Mexico's elites and its ordinary citizens could evaporate.
Writing today in the Mexico City daily Reforma, Juan Enríquez Cabot, a former Mexican foreign ministry official, had a long list of things he no longer expects from Mr. Fox: "Changes. Clarity. Concreteness. Coordination. Direction. Done deeds."