Thread: Help Wanted: U.S. Ambassador to Mexico

Few names floated for new ambassador to Mexico

12:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 8, 2009

TODD J. GILLMAN Todd J. Gillman is Washington bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News.

WASHINGTON – Help wanted: someone with a grasp of immigration policy and the skills to woo billions from Congress for a country that many Americans blame for job losses, the drug trade and border violence.

A pipeline to the president would be great, too.

It's a tall order, and few names have surfaced as likely replacements for Tony Garza, U.S. ambassador to Mexico for the last six years.

President Barack Obama has his hands full with the fight over an economic stimulus package and is still struggling to fill out his Cabinet.

So the search could take a while.

"The ambassador's role is crucial. It really is," said Jeffrey Davidow, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico under Bill Clinton and chief Latin America policymaker at the State Department, now president of the Institute of the Americas near San Diego. "It ought to be somebody who knows Mexico, has a lot of governmental experience, speaks Spanish, and is a good communicator in both languages."

A new president's first emissary to Mexico is usually a political appointee, not a career diplomat like Davidow.

"Access to the White House and to the president's ear is critical," said Mexico's ambassador in Washington, Arturo Sarukhan.

Fluent Spanish would be a plus, he said. And knowing "how to engage with Capitol Hill and state capitals is a huge asset," so elective political experience would also help.

Many bilateral issues involve legislation, among them the Mérida Initiative, a $1.4 billion anti-drug package President George W. Bush signed with President Felipe Calderón.

With the U.S. economy now sinking, some advocates worry that Congress and the new White House will have little appetite to expand the program. Advocates will seek clues in Obama's choice and the speed with which he makes the selection.

A few names have been floated.

Federico Peña, the former Denver mayor and Clinton transportation and energy secretary, was an early Obama backer but is said to have little interest.

Tony Garza, a Brownsville native, certainly had the ear of his president. The former Cameron County judge and state railroad commissioner is a close friend of Bush.

Andrew Selee, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center Mexico Institute, which released a report Friday on U.S.-Mexico relations, said deep knowledge of Mexico isn't the top priority.

He's looking for someone with access to the president or at least the secretary of state, and "a sensitivity to the delicate relationship with Mexico – to the nuances of dealing with a country that is very sensitive about its relationship with the United States."

It's a relationship strained by the drug trade. And it's not one-sided; Mexicans resent the southbound flow of illegal guns.

Drug violence in Mexico has become rampant. The number of slayings last year topped 5,700, doubling from 2007.

The U.S. ambassador can't possibly solve it all. But political pressure is intense.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn wants hearings on how to help Mexico fight the cartels. And in the meantime, he wants more U.S. law enforcement along the border.

"This issue has serious implications," he said after meeting Thursday with Sarukhan, "not only for Texas, but for our national security."

Todd J. Gillman is Washington bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 6.html?npc

Send Govenor Richardson or Arnold the Terminator ... both are worthless are IN LOVE WITH MEXICO and wont be missed

Win / Win for Everybody

Or that Ratbastard Gutierrez from Illinois, let him go there to HUG them all.