After a rocky start, Chile's president leaves office with a 70% approval rating

[DFW]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/world/americas/29bachelet.html?th&emc=th

“There was the distinct impression that she was not in control,” said Marta Lagos, director of Market Opinion Research International, a polling company in Chile.

But with only five months until she leaves office, Ms. Bachelet is increasingly likely to be remembered as one of her country’s most popular leaders. Polls this month show her public approval to be above 70 percent, and in recent weeks she has recorded the highest levels since Chile went from dictatorship to democracy in 1990.

Analysts and pollsters attribute her stunning turnaround to her handling of the economy during the global financial crisis and to her decision to save billions of dollars in revenues from copper sales during the last commodity boom. That aggressive saving gave the country money to spend on pension reform and Ms. Bachelet’s ambitious program of social protections for women and children, despite the financial crisis.

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Her dad was tortured to death by Pinochet's goons. It would have been so easy to do things differently. My hat
goes off to this brave woman, with a hope that her example is not a fluke. It should also remind us that a new
president needs time to grow into the office, and will make mistakes along the way. I have definitely seen Obama
make what I thought were a few (especially shutting Howard Dean out of his administration). But any smart office
holder can see their mistakes. A good one tries to rectify them. A great one succeeds. Brava, Sra. Bachelet!