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A New Deal for Mexico?

A candidate for Mexico?s presidency is taking a page from his neighbor to the north, the United States of America, and is using the example of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Depression to, hopefully, bring about an economic upturn in Mexico. Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador is generally grouped among the many other leftist politicians in Latin America, though unlike the combative Hugo Chavez , Mr. L?pez Obrador sees America not as a threat ? at least not now ? but as a model.

One of L?pez Obrador`s top advisers, Manuel Camacho Sols, said in an interview that ?Roosevelt didn`t solve all of America`s problems, but he gave American society a sense that they were on the right track. Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador can represent something like that for Mexico.? In an age when thousands of Mexicans wish to leave their country in search of a better job in America, Mexican politicians are searching for ways to keep people at home ? especially as it appears the United States will be toughening border patrols and public sentiment is largely opposed to illegal immigration.

We he to win, a L?pez Obrador presidency would get started with a government-subsidized push to build anywhere from 600,000 and 1 million homes that would be sold or rented at low prices to the poor?because the poor are whom L?pez Obrador is dedicated to truly helping. Still, he has his critics, one of whom has said, simply, that his plans are wonderful to hear but ?simply unfeasible?.