More Infighting

Jorge Fernández Menéndez weighs in on the dispute in Iztapalapa:

It has been demonstrated, once again, who he is and he confirmed that, in these political currents, he is the one in charge. If before he had told the institutions to go to hell, on Tuesday night he told the leadership of the party of which is supposedly still a member to piss off. In Iztapalapa he changed candidates: he made an unknown candidate swear ("Yes, boss, I accept" responded the stunned Rafael Acosta) that if he won he would resign his post so as to leave it to the woman who until yesterday was his opponent. Against the backdrop of a lifeless act and surrounded by his leaders, he ordered the Mexico City mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, that when Acosta won and resigned, he had to designate Clara Brugada as his successor, and he then ordered the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City, which hadn't even been elected, to approve this designation. López Obrador eventually assured that he continues being a member of the PRD although he campaigns against the party, and that if they kick him out it will be because of orders of the "mafia" (no, not referring to Bejarano, Imaz, Ponce Meléndez, and the rest of the theives that have been part of his team, but rather his historic enemies that range from Felipe Calderón to Carlos Salinas, including politicians, businessmen, and bankers). And he still had time to order the PRD-DF, which Bejarano's people control through Alejandra Barrales, to, ignoring for the second time the orders of the Electoral Tribunal, to not register Silvia Oliva has a candidate. And, of course, they didn't register her.

It's López Obrador in full. Laws don't matter, nor institutions, and much less, the leaders of his own party.

Today on his morning show, Pedro Ferríz said that Marcelo Ebrard (among others) was "scared" of AMLO. I don't know if that's the word I'd choose, but it's odd how despite being a declining political force with what would seem to be zero chance of returning the left to anywhere near the heights it reached in 2006, AMLO retains the ability to impose his will on the left.

I don't know what to make of Ebrard, either. AMLO is a tricky problem, because he seems a lock to run for president as well. An AMLO candidacy with the PT would likely ruin Ebrard's chances of winning as the PRD candidate. If Ebrard wants to be president in 2012 (and he clearly does), the only chance I can see for him is to kick AMLO to the curb and tack pretty hard to the center. I don't mean to sound like Broder, but there's no way a divided left takes the presidency in Mexico. An AMLO candidacy would likely take somewhere around 10 percent of the leftist votes from Ebrard, and he wouldn't have that number of votes to spare. I don't think there's any way he or anyone else can convince el Peje to voluntarily step aside. The only place where Ebrard can recover those votes is among Mexico's moderate, independent bloc, which is ample.