Calderon's message good but late

Published: 02.20.2008

Less than two years after taking office, Mexican President Felipe Calderon is getting mixed reviews from the Mexican people.

On the one hand, he gets high marks for reforming the tax system, fixing a massive public pension fund and launching a $25 billion public works initiative.

But he is also getting flak for not being vocal enough in protesting what many Mexicans see as the harsh and unfair treatment of their sons and daughters in the United States.

That is a fascinating turnabout. Not long ago, Mexicans were much too proud to think about the migrants who fled to the north searching for better opportunities.

Now they're demanding that their leaders go to bat for these expatriates against what they see as a cruelty born of American xenophobia.

And that's why Calderon last week conducted a whirlwind, five-day swing though the United States with stops in Boston, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles and Sacramento, Calif. Aides say the main purpose of the trip was to focus attention on the Mexican immigrant community in this country.