Enjoying Beyonce

John Ackerman writes in the Daily Beast:

Two years ago, President Barack Obama vowed to make Mexico a top priority during his administration. He condemned the fact that "the United States has not lived up to its historic role as a leader in the Western Hemisphere". He called George W. Bush's approach to Latin America "clumsy, disinterested and, above all, distracted by the war in Iraq." The future president promised he would break the mold and establish "a renewed strategic partnership with Mexico."

This has not happened. Obama has proven to be as distracted and clumsy as his predecessor. First came his mismanagement of last year's Honduran coup. The United States flip-flopped on the sidelines in the face of this blatant power grab. The region´s strongmen have now learned that they can violently depose democratically elected leaders without running into trouble from Washington.

The Mexican case is similar. Once again, Obama has refused to put democracy first. Wednesday was a case in point. Instead of taking advantage of the occasion to enter into a sincere dialogue with the Mexican people, Obama preferred to dote on Mexico´s highly questioned President Felipe Calderón. Instead of sending a message of solidarity and hope to the battered border cities of Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana, Obama offered a lavish dinner full of overworked protocol and exaggerated accolades for Calderón´s cabinet.

Across the board, Mexico´s president has proven to be an ineffective and authoritarian leader. The facts are on the table: expanding poverty, a miserable human rights record, rampant corruption, and the total failure of his "war on drugs", with over 22,000 deaths since Calderón took power three years ago.

Obama has also been a disappointment for Mexicans. He has failed to control the sale of assault weapons or stop their flow across the border. Drug consumption remains obscenely high in the U.S. The president has not given immigration reform the priority it deserves. He has not even dared to challenge the discriminatory Arizona legislation in the courts.

Meanwhile, Obama and Calderón toast with elegant crystal wine glasses, share their "dreams" for the future and boogie down to Beyoncé. But they were not alone. Some of Mexico´s leading robber barons, including Carlos Slim and Lorenzo Zambrano, were front and center at Wednesday night's dinner. So were the representatives of the Mexican television media duopoly which controls over 90% of the market and has aggressively challenged recent democratic reforms.