Beltrones and His Party

Leo Zuckermann laments that Manlio Fabio Beltrones' good qualities are lessened by the party in which he operates:

Beltrones is a politician of ideas willing to put them on the table. On the fiscal issue, it would have been great if he'd done so in the recent negotiation for the budget revenue bill. Because, instead of pushing a deep reform as he envisioned, his caucus opposed the generalized consumption tax that the president proposed. But that wasn't all: the priístas allowed the approval of an increase of one percentage point in the value added tax. The Senators from this party abstained or were absent when it was time to vote. A pyrotechnic trick to say yes but save a bit of face. According to Beltrones, it is a "parliamentary instrument that allows the parties to make their disagreement known, without stopping, without obstructing the government's proposals". Beltrones thus demonstrated that he can have good ideas but that, when it's time make difficult decisions, it's better that his senators go to the bathroom.

I guess Beltrones is the Steven Jackson of Mexican politics.