In 2000 & 2006, many of us in the US were familiar with Vicente Fox & Felipe Calderon, the PAN nominees. They had a reputation outside of Mexico as conservatives and men who understood that the country needed reforms.
We were also very familiar with Vicente Fox because he had a close relationship with our Governor GW Bush in the late 1990s. They were both elected president in 2000 and worked together well.
Again, Josefina Vazquez-Mota does not enjoy that reputation.
I am not saying that she is a bad candidate.
I am not saying that she is a bad candidate.
I'm just stating the obvious: Nobody knows Josefina!
Besides that, she faces an uphill battle because the voters usually want change after a party has been in power for 12 years, or Fox & Calderon.
Nevertheless, I am going to give her a campaign issue that the other two guys won't touch.
I am talking about public education reform, or an issue that no one has really addressed in Mexico because the teachers' union has always delivered votes on election day.
We call on Sra JVM to read Israel Ortega's article about a movie going around Mexico:
"Opening in theaters all across Mexico, the documentary titled De Panzanzo—loosely translated to “Barely Passing”—is a hard-hitting film exposing the sorry state of the Mexican public school system.
According to the film, roughly 54 out of every 100 Mexican students will fail to receive a high school diploma. As a result, Mexicans, on average, spend only about 8.6 years in school.
In other countries, such as Norway and Canada, students average about 13.2 years in school."
Sra JVM needs something to establish her credentials with a public tired of 12 years of PAN but not totally sold on Pena-Nieto's "hope and change" and LO's part II.
Sra JVM must remind Mexicans that they will always be a 3rd world country as long there are monopolies like PEMEX and a public education system run for the benefit of the teachers' union.
Why should Mexican taxpayers pay taxes to support public schools but be forced to send their kids to private schools to get a quality education?
Sra JVM must remind Mexicans that they will always be a 3rd world country as long there are monopolies like PEMEX and a public education system run for the benefit of the teachers' union.
Why should Mexican taxpayers pay taxes to support public schools but be forced to send their kids to private schools to get a quality education?
I think that my idea will give Sra JVM an issue that the other two guys are afraid to touch. It will be a winner for Sra JVM and PAN. It will also demonstrate that she is not afraid of taking on "sacred cows". It will be a big hit with Mexicans who don't think that they are getting their money's worth from the bureaucracy.
Click here for our conversation with Israel Ortega of The Heritage Foundation:
Listen to internet radio with Silvio Canto Jr on Blog Talk Radio
Tags: Mexico: An idea for Josefina To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
