Accomplishments, Failures

Three years in to Calderón's government, Leo Zuckermann finds three principal failings alongside three hallmark achievements. On the plus side, Zuckermann points to a few of the reforms (especially the ISSSTE legislation), the formation of the federal police, and the LyFC takeover. The demerits come from the poorly conceived electoral reform, the practice of delegating the president's agenda to the interior secretary (which began with Mouriño's moving from Los Pinos to Interior), and the missed opportunity of last year's Pemex reform.

Two thoughts spring to mind: first, given all the hype around every other reform, it's ironic that the ISSSTE reform will likely be remembered as the most objectively positive of Calderón's first three years. Second, as far as the positives, their long-term impact seems extremely reliant on subsequent events. The ISSSTE reform was good, but if Calderón's legislative legacy lacks any other grown jewel, it will be remembered as lacking. Genaro García Luna's police reform efforts include a lot of good ideas, but they haven't yet translated to an effective, honest national police body, or, for that matter, a safer Mexico. And the LyFC takeover has a lot of good points, but if that's the only government knot kneaded out under Calderón, I don't think people are going to remember him alongside Juárez on the basis of winning his conflict with Martín Esparza alone.

This is true to some extent for any piece of legislation, but, compared with, say, the passage of health reform in the US or the creation of the IFAI under Vicente Fox, the long-term significance Calderón's foremost achievements seems rather precarious.