Monday, December 3, 2007

Tequila Sunset?  A Mexican Revolution of Hope

By Jeremy Martin

·         Book review: Jeremy Martin reviews “Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith, and Dreams of a Mexican President,” by Vicente Fox and Rob Allyn

Vicente Fox is a tall man.  On that just about everyone agrees.  And these days Fox, the former president of Mexico turned autobiographer, has to be happy with any point of consensus. 

Alas, it was not always that way.  Think back to the excited spring and summer of 2000 when a figure straight out of Hollywood’s central casting literally rode into the public’s imagination in Mexico.  After over 70 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and an eternity’s worth of undemocratic elections, Fox historically wrested Los Pinos, Mexico’s presidential palace, from the PRI.

The saga of the 2000 presidential election is a well-documented tale.  On July 2nd, 2000, Vicente Fox’s 58th birthday, he did what for 71 years had been unthinkable and undoable – he, as a candidate of the opposition National Action Party (PAN), was elected president of Mexico.  While he did not gain a majority, he did easily win the three-way contest with PRI candidate Francisco Labastida losing to him by almost 2.5 million votes, and the third place finisher, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, almost 10 million votes behind. The piece de resistance was when famed transparency-monitor Jimmy Carter called the election almost perfect.

Let’s also dispense up front with a fact that should not be disputed: Vicente Fox’s election in of itself was a monumental achievement.  This is not to excuse the many foibles and unfulfilled promises of his sexennial – and more on that later – but credit should be given where credit is due, and Fox will have a cherished place in Mexican history. 

Having the opportunity to review his book after the pre-publication blizzard also provides some room to opine on the opining.  Given the advance publication in English of “Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith, and Dreams of a Mexican President,” Fox, together with his co-author and consigliere, Dallas-based political consultant Rob Allyn, made clear this was a book for U.S. consumption.  And consumed it was for headline fodder as advance copies provoked reviews with titles such as: “Bush a 'windshield cowboy,' Mexico's Fox says” (Arizona Republic), and “Mexico's Fox forgoes flattery in new book” (USA Today). 

In reality, while Fox did choose some interesting ways to describe his one-time presidential friend, he was generally quite praiseful of President George W. Bush. For example, when writing about their first meeting when both were governors, Fox said: “Because I knew Bush only as a Republican oilman from conservative Texas, I didn’t expect that kind of warmth. I certainly didn’t think he’d care much about concerns of a Mexican politician for the immigrant workers of Texas….  So my first surprise was to find in George W. Bush this cultural sensitivity, together with a depth of knowledge about Mexican immigrants and a real compassion for the Latino citizens who lived, worked, prayed and voted in his state.”

And therein, as the saying goes, lies the rub.  The one issue that the two had always found common ground on was abruptly and unceremoniously pushed far to the side when terrorists attacked the United States.

Fox argues – strongly – that September 11th was almost as traumatic a day in Mexico as in the United States, given the huge hit on tourism, the economy and diversion away from the attention being given only days before to immigration reform. 

The cracks in the relationship would open to massive divides two years later as Bush pushed forward with the Iraq War and asked a Mexican president for the impossible – support of a U.S.-led foreign invasion. 

Meanwhile, the nativist side of the immigration debate in the United States gained greater traction, and when the proposed 700 mile border wall was thrown into the mix, the chasm was never to be closed.

All of this is capably chronicled by Fox and Allyn, and the regret of the missed opportunity, perhaps the definition of his administration, is palpable. 

Fox – or perhaps the blame for the English version should be laid at his co-author Allyn’s feet – has turned out an autobiography that makes for an amusing read, but not terribly informative.  Fox spins a fairly decent yarn that recounts the story of his immigrant grandfather from Cincinnati, his Coca-Cola days, his presidency and time just after, though he makes only a cursory effort to discuss the many missteps he made as president.  His inability to bring forward economic or energy reforms receives scant detail, the infamous conversation with Fidel Castro about the Monterrey Summit barely is mentioned, the unfortunate comment he made regarding black Americans is quickly run through, and, most importantly, no real light is shed upon the internal discussions that occurred in his government immediately after September 11th and how they should respond to the United States’ urgent time of need.

In sharp contrast was the immediate and wonderful response Fox is proud to recount of Mexican soldiers providing succor in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

In addition to what amounts to a staggering and perhaps unavoidable amount of name dropping in the book – in some ways it felt like his co-author was actually famed Hollywood diarist Dominick Dunne – Fox seems to have never met a cliché or bromide he does not like.  Some may find the incessant quoting and heaping of praise on other “revolutionary” figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohandas Gandhi, Elie Wiesel, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Muhammad Yunus – the Nobel Peace Prize winner of Grameen Bank fame receives more adulation than just about any other figure – as a bit much.  Yet, in some ways the style suits the man and makes for a much more enjoyable read than if Fox had used his memoir to concretely elaborate on his less than concise vision for a North American Union.

While you can hear the effort and his desire for humility trying to come through in the book, it never completely does and conceivably explains why the man who so many had such high hopes for, came up short. Call it autobiography as microcosm. 

The book also has some head-scratching factual errors such as describing the famed international confab of Bretton Woods during World War II as when the United Nations was created (this occurred not once, but twice); actually, the United Nations rose out of a meeting in San Francisco in June 1945. 

Possibly the biggest mistake, and one that Fox led with his chin on, is his thesis and desire to convey to the reader that he was not only the first democratically elected president in many years, but also the only one not to have personally enriched himself and have had his hand in the national till while running the country. 

His book tour has seemed to spark a counter current to that argument.  Indeed, while it remains only speculation and innuendo the myriad of accusations have amounted to a recently-opened Mexican congressional investigation.  And there is the matter of who paid for his vehicles, not to mention all of the modifications and additions to the ranch at San Cristobal, all of which, if substantiated, could dramatically water down the message of transparency in his book.

With his book expected to hit stores in Spanish soon, the tall rancher from Guanajuato will again spark furious debate, heated discussion and most of all acrimony from those in Mexico who thought they had voted in the man who would fix everything in six years, and instead ended up with just a rancher, soft drink salesman, and very human Vicente.

Fox beamed on the day after his election in 2000: "Today Mexico is already different.”  Whether different is positive or negative leads back to that tricky issue of consensus.

——————————

Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith, and Dreams of a Mexican President, by Vicente Fox and Rob Allyn.  Viking: 375 pp., US$27.95.

Jeremy Martin, a MexiData.info guest columnist, is the Director of the Energy Program at the Institute of the Americas at UCSD. He can be reached by email at jermartin@ucsd.edu.