Does Lopez-Obrador really want to be president of Mexico?

According to some of my Mexican friends, Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador, the man from the left, will be the next president of Mexico.

They tell me that he has great public support.

Frankly, I don’t know. I think that it is very hard to analyze Mexican public opinion.

Yet, my question is this:  Does Lopez-Obrador want to be President of Mexico? Does he want to become the most unpopular person in Mexico?

Let me give you a preview of the early days of a Lopez-Obrador’s presidency.

If elected in July, Mexico will have a summer of huge capital flight.   It will remind every one of August ’82 or November ’94.

By the fall and winter of 2018, the peso’s value will drop as Mexicans panic and take their money out of the country.

President LO will respond by saying that he is not as bad as his populism indicates. He will assure investors that his “populist words” were just campaign rhetoric intended to get votes rather than a reflection of how he will govern.

Foreign investors won’t buy it. Dollars will flow out of rather than into Mexico!

Mexicans won’t buy it either. There will be more and more people trying to cross the US-Mexico border.

With a de-facto peso devaluation and zero confidence from foreign investors, LO won’t have a lot of options to deal with Mexico’s problems.

So my advice to LO is this: Don’t win.

Let one of the other candidates govern Mexico.

I’m not suggesting that the other guys have all of the answers but they inspire more confidence.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

January 1969: "Everyday people" by Sly & The Family Stone was on the radio

Sly & The Family Stone were one of the first integrated bands in pop history.   They had several big hits, such as "Thank you" and "Family affair".   

"Everyday people" was a very bouncy tune about peace and getting along.    It was a smash:

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column.

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We remember Thomas P. Tip O’Neill (1912-1994)

We remember Tip O'Neill, who died on this day in 1994. 

O'Neill served for 50 years, including 16 years in the Massachusetts legislature and 34 years in the US House.   

We remember him for the great line "all politics is local".   He was excellent at personal relationships, very loyal and got along with the other party, the Republicans.

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, click send, and drop a dime here.

July 2005: A bad day and an apology later from Kenny Rogers of the Rangers

Back in July 2005, Kenny Rogers had a very bad day over the confrontation with the camera man of a local TV channel.
It was very sad because Rogers pitched great here and elsewhere.   It's a shame that this incident stained his career.

P.S. To his credit, Kenny Rogers apologized later and that was great to see!    

2005: Bush went to Europe

President Nixon's '72 trip to China was historic and exceptional. It was remarkable watching the President and First Lady on The Great Wall or sitting down with Mao.

President Reagan's visit to the Berlin Wall in '87 was dramatic. He said "tear down this wall".   Two years later, the wall came down and so did the evil empire!

Overall, presidential trips are courtesy calls. They have very little impact here and there. 

So I didn't expect a lot to change from Bush's 2005 visit to Europe. 

The most important part of the trip was the meeting with Putin but it did not get much attention from the Euro-press. Putin and Bush had a lot to talk about. Yet, everyone was obsessed with the dinner that Bush and Chirac having dinner!

Nevertheless, Europe and the US did some fence mending. There are several reasons.

The first one is pragmatic. Bush won with a majority (51.4%) of the US popular vote. In fact, most of Bush's European critics would love to have his mid-50's approval ratings in the latest Gallup. They wouldn't mind having his 5.2% unemployment rate either!


Bush arrived in Europe in a stronger political position than any of his hosts. Take a poll in France or Germany or Spain. Do you think that the majority of their citizens think that their leader is doing a good job? I don't think so!

The second reason is economic.  As the US moved from recession to 4% annual growth, much of Europe is still stuck in their malaise and 2% growth.  Europe can't create jobs and this is turning into a serious domestic concern for the continent's leaders.


The third reason is the Iraq election:  8.5 million Iraqis put the exclamation point on the removal of Saddam Hussein.

In the end, not much happened but nothing much was supposed to happen. 

Old Europe is in decline as it falls behind China and India in economic terms. Things will never be the same between the US and Europe. 

We are not going in the same direction, as Mark Steyn wrote in his book.

 P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Let's meet Nilda Cepero, Cuban American author

Let's meet Nilda Cepero, Cuban American author ........ https://t.co/mrnmgDjcWv

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) October 8, 2016

2005: A bad for Kenny Rogers

The 2005 Rangers were a disappointment, specially after the 89 wins in 2004.   They came to spring training with high hopes but everything just fell apart.

We remember a bad series for the Rangers in July.  Off the field, it was a bad day for Kenny Rogers.

Unfortunately, it was left hander Kenny Rogers who stole the show with his confrontation with a Channel 4 camera man.

Rogers' behavior was out of character. He has pitched here since '91 and had never been a problem in or outside the clubhouse.

God only knows what made Rogers act like this.   It was a bad moment in an otherwise good career:   239 wins, 4.27 ERA & 133 of those came here!

July 2005: Rafael Palmeiro joined the 3,000 hit & 500 HR club

Back in July 2005, Palmeiro joined the ultra selective 500-3000 club. 

He joined Aaron, Mays and Murray as the only 4 players who have 3000 hits and 500 homers.

It was a great achievement.

Where did he come from?

Palmeiro was the Cubs' first-round pick in 1985.  He got his first hit on Sept. 8, 1986, against Philadelphia's Tom Hume. His first home run came the next day against Kevin Gross.

He was traded to the Texas Rangers after the '88 season so that the Cubs could make room for Mark Grace.

Palmeiro became a complete hitter in Texas. He had 203 hits in '91. He showed power in '93 when he hits 37 HRs. He became a model of consistency collecting at least 38 home runs and 110 RBIs for nine consecutive years. His best year was '99 when he hit 47 HRs and helped the Rangers to 95 wins and the AL West!

He got his 500th on Mothers Day 2003!

Congratulations Rafael Palmeiro.

P.S. Palmeiro was caught in the “substance abuse” scandals.  He killed any chance of going to the HOF.  It’s a shame because he’d reached 3,000 hits without substances.

2014 podcast: "Cafe Cubano" & recipes with Sonia Martinez & Marta Verdes Darby, authors

"Cafe Cubano" & recipes with Sonia Martinez & Marta Verdes Darby, authors... 

Listen in now at http://t.co/OdS4eaZOLR. #BlogTalkRadio
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) November 25, 2014

We remember Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

(You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, click send, and drop a dime here.)
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Julius Henry Marx was born in New York City on October 2, 1890.    Later, he and the Marx Brothers made us laugh and laugh.    

Like many of you, I discovered The Marx Brothers in college.   I fell in love with their humor and watched several of their movies over and over again.    

My favorite is “A night at the opera” but the others are great, too!