Candidates, C'mon Down!!

Both John McCain and Barack Obama have visits to Mexico scheduled, McCain's later this week, Obama's in August. El Universal rolled out the red carpet for the two men in an editorial titled, "Welcome McCain; Welcome Obama," in which the authors made the following point: 

McCain's visit, although it is for his own reasons, signals the growing importance of Mexico for the United States, and not as a foreign policy motive: the closeness and interdependence make each country part of the domestic politics of the other, a fact which we ignore at our own risk.

Although many Americans may find the above sentiment galling, it's hard to refute. That's not to suggest that our relationship with Mexico is more important than that with Britain, but Mexico's impact on American electoral politics is certainly more direct, and for better or worse, it's only going to get stronger. The pool balls theory of international relations doesn't work as well with the United States and Mexico, because they occupy much of the same space. I wonder how long before eminent academics start publishing fear-mongering books about the Mexico influence. Oh, wait.