Obrador creates new style of government

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s first 100 days in office have combined a compulsive shedding of presidential trappings with a dizzying array of policy initiatives, and a series of missteps haven’t even dented his soaring approval ratings.

Lopez Obrador has answered more questions from the press, flown in more economy-class flights, posed for more selfies with admiring citizens and visited more genuinely risky areas with little or no security than several combined decades of his predecessors. He’s also surprised many by maintaining a cordial relationship with US President Donald Trump, helping contain Central American migrant caravans while resisting US efforts to oust the leftist government of Venezuela.

The folksy perennial candidate took office Dec. 1 and by the end of his first month in office, Lopez Obrador’s approval rating surpassed 80 per cent. He has taken full advantage of that mandate to move quickly on many fronts - perhaps too many.

“Every week he announces at least one or two things,” said Ivonne Acuna Murillo, a professor of political science at the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City. “Sometimes the speed of the issues he is putting on the agenda is such that an issue they put out in the morning is displaced by another in the afternoon.”

Before Lopez Obrador had even taken office he held a referendum on the partially constructed $13 billion Mexico City airport.

He used the resulting vote as a green light to cancel a project he had campaigned against.

During his first month in office, Lopez Obrador launched a military assault on the country’s fuel theft gangs, dividing the security of Mexico’s critical pipelines and refineries between the army and the navy. The hastily planned offensive created gas shortages across the country, but somehow didn’t dampen his popularity.

This month, he overrode complaints by human rights campaigners and got the Congress and state legislatures to approve constitutional reforms creating a heavily militarized National Guard that he touts as the key to getting control of Mexico’s runaway violence.

A typical day starts with his 6:00am Cabinet meeting, focusing on security, where he gets the daily crime report.