What we saw last December 1 in the Zócalo was the concentration of defeat, an act that I try to compensate for how bad things are in the country. No muscle was shown, embarrassment was shown. A speech that said nothing new, a monotonous morning lecture, but before a large mass of people, mostly the product of hauling or something worse, such as the threat of losing their job.
We have an opposition president, a man who continues to oppose power. This seems to be a characteristic of some of the left in power and of the authoritarians and populists: the need to create enemies to continue “in the fight” against power, even if they hold power. Díaz Ordaz “fought” against ideologies “that came from outside”, Echeverría against “forces of the past”; Today López “fights” against the “conservatives”, the “hypocrites” and the “fifís”. The tune is the same and they have in common the enormous power they enjoy.
Creating an enemy always gives them a cause and an ally: the people. That people of the vague and broad concept that considers everyone and where in the case of López Obrador there is only one room: himself, because he is the incarnation of the people. He says that he is no longer owed to himself but to the people. Is this the phrase of a democrat or an alibi to impose your point of view? If he is the people, those of us who criticize are nowhere to be found.
President López is so busy fighting enemies, euphemistically called adversaries, and campaigning throughout the republic before fearful or disciplined, cautious or institutional governors, that he has no time to govern, only to command. Campaigns that are paid with our taxes. And it does well, because if you stop for a week without campaigning, you would notice the scoundrel on line 12, the massacres that it denies, the deaths that it hides behind its words. Killed by Covid 19, lack of drugs or bullets.
His permanent opposition campaign has been successful. Polls around December 1 put it between 58 and 66% personal acceptance. Only one says they have lowered their rating from 60 to 58, nothing important. Never has a failed president been so popular. To believe that this acceptance to three years of government is due only to the social programs in which it distributes money in an inefficient and non-transparent way, is an error of analysis. AMLO is much more, he has charisma and a simple, but powerful narrative.
This narrative has several axes: 1) it is they, the rich and abusive, and us, the bottom. “Those from below”; This is an identity that in Mexico has been formed for decades; politics, cinema, literature tell us about it. 2) the people are victims, never guilty. He is a victim of the sale of minors as wives, organized crime, robberies, racism, and a lack of respect for the law. If the townspeople commit crimes, it is due to a lack of options and that is why others are to blame. There are no citizens, there are good people. 3) Everything poor, humble, has an authentic taste and is better. The middle classes are aspirational and suspicious; those who belong to the upper classes not to mention. 4) The “values” of the people are the best because we inherited them from remarkable cultures since time immemorial. These values are an elusive set of ideas, customs, and assumptions. 5) The Mexican is better and it has always been that way. 6) And the supreme value: the people are never wrong and if the president is the incarnation of the people, then …
This particular amalgam of ideas that leverage the authoritarianism of the current government has its equivalent among blind opponents of AMLO. I do not dwell on this much, as an example I put two ideas: 1) only out of ignorance or interest is AMLO supported and 2) the polls that confirm the popularity of the president are false. They are scooped or paid and those who use them for analysis are, at heart, allies of Q4. These and other approaches deny the immediate past history of abuse and impunity, disparage all those who support President López, and, worst of all, are not understanding the social and ideological mechanism that makes presidential popularity possible.
It is not undesirable for a president to be popular. On the contrary. Let us remember how the unpopularity of presidents like Peña Nieto or Trump turned them into “lame ducks.” This is not desirable. The problem is how AMLO uses his popularity: he uses it to hide the reality of a failed government.
The president has not achieved a change towards the scenario that he drew for us at the beginning of his term. I fear that he has been lost in a world of clichés and ceremonies devoid of content.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx