Mexico's leftist president creates new style of government

[Judi Lynn]

Mexico's leftist president creates new style of government in first 100 days

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and MARK STEVENSON Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — Mar 9, 2019 11:09 PM ET
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's first 100 days in office have combined a compulsive shedding of presidential trappings with a dizzying array of policy initiatives, and a series of missteps haven't even dented his soaring approval ratings.

Lopez Obrador has answered more questions from the press, flown in more economy-class flights, posed for more selfies with admiring citizens and visited more genuinely risky areas with little or no security than several combined decades of his predecessors. He's also surprised many by maintaining a cordial relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, helping contain Central American migrant caravans while resisting U.S. efforts to oust the leftist government of Venezuela.

The folksy perennial candidate took office Dec. 1 and by the end of his first month in office, Lopez Obrador's approval rating surpassed 80 percent. He has taken full advantage of that mandate to move quickly on many fronts — perhaps too many.

"Every week he announces at least one or two things," said Ivonne Acuna Murillo, a professor of political science at the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City. "Sometimes the speed of the issues he is putting on the agenda is such that an issue they put out in the morning is displaced by another in the afternoon."

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