PAN Sniping

About a year ago, it looked like Felipe Calderón had succeeded in subordinating the more conservative Fox/Espino wing of the PAN. It has since become clear that such was not the case. The examples of intramural fighting from the PAN in recent days have been many:

1) After being defeated in the internal contests for governor of San Luis Potosí, Senator Eugenio Govea accused party boss Germán Martínez of illegally fixing the outcome in favor of the winner, Alejandro Zapata.

2) Ex-party chief Manuel Espino called present Senate leader Gustavo Madero a liar.

3) Ex-Senate leader Santiago Creel irritated Calderón's people by presenting a reform of the Secretariat of the Interior without running it by Los Pinos first.

4) After Senator Guillermo Anaya cut in front of his colleagues in the buffet line at a recent PAN luncheon, Governor Emilio González approached angrily and heatedly said, "Mmm-mm! No sir, don't bring that mess here, not while I'm hungry! You need to turn yourself around and go find your place at the back of the line," and snapped his fingers twice in Anaya's face.

(Can you guess which one I made up?)

Calderón has tried to stay above the fray in much of this, but the problem is his allies are pretty easily identifiable. When he talks, as he did yesterday, of the PAN putting the squabbles behind it, it comes across has him telling his adversaries to settle down and fall in line. But it's become clear that, despite being the president, he alone doesn't have the pull to make that happen. The more the precedent is set of people ignoring Calderón's wishes, the easier it is for them to do it in the future. The 2009 campaign will eventually impose a greater level of party discipline on the panistas, but all the unseemly sniping in the meantime is not going to help them catch up with the PRI.