Reviving el Peje

Jacobo Zabludovski, Mexico's Tom Brokaw, attributes the persistent relevance of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to his political adversaries periodically handing him issues that double as bludgeons: in years past, the desafuero and the 2006 election controversy; more recently, the fine from the electoral authority and energy debate. Every time it seems like even his followers are getting sick of el Peje's antics, some new controversy pops up that lets him play the role he knows best: the self-righteous, victimized martyr.

I think there's some truth to that, but the fault clearly lies with López Obrador. Much of the ammo for his populist guns was just a natural byproduct of the democratic process. From the narrow election loss to the oil debate, it's not his enemies' actions that were controversial; it was López Obrador's behavior that turned each episode into a scandal.