President
Obama is down in Mexico catching up with President Pena-Nieto and all
things south of the border. The US media will probably focus on
immigration reform and immigration reform and immigration reform.
President Obama will apparently "pitch"
immigration reform in Mexico. Maybe he will have better luck with
Mexico's Congress than the Senate Democrats who've given him "zero"
votes to his last two budget proposals. As we've discussed before, the
only bipartisanship in Washington DC is opposition to President Obama,
from gun control to budgets.
Unfortunately, all of the talk about immigration reform will overlook something good happenings south of the border.
President
Pena-Nieto is pushing reforms in industries like telecommunications
and energy. He has also gone after the corrupt public teachers' union.
The Washington Post recently praised
President Pena-Nieto for bringing the political parties together and
working to pass legislation. It is the Mexican version of "the grand
bargain".
Of
course, Mexico's "grand bargain" is the result of President
Pena-Nieto's leadership. He is leading and tackling structural
problems. He is not reading "hope and change" speeches from the
teleprompter.
Maybe President Pena-Nieto can teach President Obama a thing or two about leadership, the missing ingredient in the Obama presidency!
There are also interesting alignments underway in Latin America:
a)
The Caracas wing, or countries falling apart like Argentina, Bolivia,
Cuba and Venezuela.The bad news is that this the anti-American group.
The good news is that these economies are tanking under the
Chavez/Castro inspired leadership; and,
b)
The "reform" wing, or free market reform economies that are creating
jobs and a middle class in Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico.
There
is also Brazil, one of the top 10 GDP's in the world. By the way,
Brazil's last two presidents came from the left but governed from a
very pragmatic center that continues to attract foreign investment.
Last,
but not least, the success of Mexico, Colombia, Peru & Chile also
point out just how wrong President Obama was about Latin America.
First,
President Obama opposed all of the free trade agreements that have
been critical to rejuvenating these economies. He not only opposed
them but hung around with people promoting lies about Colombia ("killing labor union leaders") & closed the US-Mexico border to Mexican trucks based on misinformation about the security record of Mexican transport companies.
Second,
President Obama's indifference toward Latin America has allowed China
to cut economic deals with the region & permitted Venezuela to get
cozy with Iran.
Again,
the media will ask about immigration reform and immigration reform and
immigration reform. However, some should ask President Obama about
his total and complete lack of leadership in a region vital to our
national interest.
Some
correctly say that President Obama has been "leading from behind" in
Syria and the Middle East. He has been "missing in action" with
respect to Latin America.
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