Communication Breakdown

Leo Zuckermann says that the Calderón administration has ceded way too much of the rhetorical terrain surrounding security to critics:

When a writer the size of Jorge Castañeda says, for example, that the war has failed and no one answers him, well the maxim of "I'll take your silence as a sign of agreement" applies. When the rector of the Tec, Rafael Rangel Sostmann, is the one who establishes how two of his students died in a confrontation with the military and the government remains silent, again the same principle applies. When no one, absolutely no one, explains how a drug trafficker arrested by the marines appears the next day dead, well the suspicion lingers that there is a "cleanup operation" where soldiers kill with complete impunity the enemies of the state.

I think the recent silence probably stems from Calderón's desire to downplay security as an agenda item in the second half of his term, which is clearly the wrong way to go about it. But even when he was focusing on security, Calderón's communications strategy never hit the right balance between educating and advocating, always inclining to much toward the latter, which led to events invalidating the administration's claims on a regular basis. Hopefully whoever is to be the next president is paying close attention to Calderón's missteps.

Now, in honor of the post's title, I present to you Led Zeppelin at no extra charge. Cheers!