Mood is a brutal signal in Mexican politics.
If a president or a governor is sad, hesitant (too involved in his thoughts), it is an unequivocal sign that things are going wrong.
Let us remember, for example, José López Portillo in 1982, when in the midst of the worst financial crisis of the time—the devaluation of everything he gave, the country plunged into rage and despair—he nationalized the Bank and, among tears, he apologized to the poor of Mexico.
And how about Mario Marín in the middle of the crisis of the Cacho case?
Refugee in the interior of the state in the mornings—“there nobody asks me for anything”—, and hours later, in Casa Puebla, killing the afternoon with his friends and his accomplices. All, it was missing more, mounted on the rack of alcohol.
The good humor of President López Obrador and Governor Barbosa are symptomatic.
Things are going great for both of them.
Despite the daily propaganda to the contrary, the president continues to square the circle that was raised from day one.
His ability to get ahead, and the historical shield he has, make him optimistic about the future.
And something else: with the national agenda in their hands.
Every day he drives the opposition crazy, the one that moves in its own mud without a compass or telescopes.
In Puebla, meanwhile, the governor continues to bring order to priority issues: public safety and the fight against corruption.
Along with that, it continues to inaugurate roads, confront what remains of the Covid and reform institutions.
The president and the governor have been diagnosed with dozens of catastrophes of all kinds.
And both eat their critics for breakfast, who don’t get a single one right.
On the issue of succession they seem to go hand in hand.
There are no differences that seem to divide them.
There have been many attempts at polarization.
All, yes, have failed.
The nature of both has them working overtime on what is already upon them: the electoral future.
They move their pieces like Borges’s chess players.
They plot their scenarios.
They bet on their allies.
His state of mind speaks of things going well for both of them.
Better than ever.
Your erratic critics can keep shrieking.
They have the right to kick.
More was missing.
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