True

Felipe Calderón reminds me of how new Soviet leaders were supposed to have stashed away two letters in the event of domestic trouble: he's blaming his predecessors for the country's present insecurity. The press is eager to jump all over this, and it's not hard to imagine functionaries from past administrations taking umbrage, but it's hard to argue with the fact itself. Whether because of incompetence, lack of attention, or corruption, in every administration since the cartels first formed in the 1980s, the Mexican cartels have grown stronger. At the same time, there's a limit to how much effect that excuse will have. It may be De La Madrid, Salinas, Zedillo, and Fox's fault, but Calderón's the one who has to fix it.