ObraGORE y Amigos

Sound familiar?

A heated presidential race ends with a conservative winner and a liberal loser who delays concession of the defeat.

The liberal presidential candidate hints at conspiracy by raising suspicion of election fraud, and he possibly even accuses his opponent of rigging the outcome.

No, this isn't Election 2000, or even 2004, in the United States.  It describes Mexico's presidential election that was held on July 2, in which conservative (PAN) candidate Felipe Calderon was voted to succeed Vicente Fox. 

Calderon's opponent was former Mexico City mayor and lifetime liberal (PRD) candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has received far more press coverage in defeat than Calderon has in victory.

Mexico's election results were delayed because the election was extremely close, with Calderon winning by 243,000 votes, as announced and reviewed by the national Election Board.

Of course, that was not good enough for Obrador.

Why should it have been?  After all, he's merely following in the footsteps of the losers of the past two United States presidential elections.  And if election results can be delayed in the U.S. by one day (2004), or even one month (2000), why should Mexico conform to a standard of class and efficiency?

The following is a collection of excerpts from last Sunday's New York Times article featuring this story.  The article, titled "Leftist Predicts Unrest Without Complete Recount of Mexican Election," was authored by James C. McKinley Jr. and Ginger Thompson.

"We are aware we are confronting a powerful group, economically and politically, that are accustomed to winning at all costs, without moral scruples," he told the crowd. He maintained that this group had "conspired against democracy" and that "they are the ones who now want to put a servant in the presidency."

Mr. López Obrador called on his supporters to march Wednesday from every electoral district in the country to the capital, an echo of his 1994 march from Tabasco to the capital to protest his defeat in the governor's rac.

He said his opponent's supporters had resorted to fraud and vote-buying in northern states where the conservative party is dominant, like Jalisco and Guanajuato. He also said he had been the victim of a smear campaign on television and radio that far exceeded campaign spending limits.

He saidthat the Federal Electoral Institute should have recounted Sunday's ballots during the official tally. He pointed out that mistakes favoring Mr. Calderón were found in about 2,600 cases where officials did recount votes, when tally sheets were missing or contained errors.

He said he would present a case for recounting the votes to the Federal Electoral Tribunal on Sunday, and that he would also challenge the validity of the election before the Supreme Court, arguing that President Vicente Fox had interfered with it.

Later, he took his case to the people. Tens of thousands of angry and defiant people wearing his party's yellow colors and carrying banners and flags gathered in the Zócalo throughout the afternoon. They were young and old, unemployed and professional, dark-skinned and light-skinned, and they had traveled from places as far as the states of Michoacán and Tabasco.

Mr. López Obrador spoke for about 40 minutes, calling his adversaries traitors to democracy. The crowd chanted, "You are not alone."

Mr. Calderón's campaign cited the volatile protests Mr. López Obrador led after his 1994 loss in arguing that he could be a danger to Mexico. And several political analysts have said that Mr. López Obrador's behavior since Thursday has proven Mr. Calderón right.

Mr. López Obrador said that Mr. Calderón was wrong to begin assuming the role of president-elect before the results of last Sunday's contests had been upheld in court. And he objected to the congratulatory messages that had been sent to Mr. Calderón from the United States, Spain and Canada.

He said it was all part of a strategy by Mr. Calderón to end a process that was not yet over.

"They want to turn the page, but things are not that way," Mr. López Obrador said. "This is just started."

Though the conservative candidate won, and though this election was for Mexico's president, perhaps no political party encourages Obrador more than the Democratic Party here in the States.  Every shout, whine, accusation, finger point, and demand for unlimited recounts until the Left wins -- gives the American Left more energy to continue like tactics for America's own elections, including this coming fall.

Whether the blame falls on Diebold, Inc., or on someone or something else, the blame will fall on someone OTHER than the party's candidate -- and any losses will be rigorously refuted.

Democracy, whether or not among a republic, is the most successful politicial policy in the world.  But thanks to Al Gore in 2000, the process has gone from being a process of ultimately gracious losers and respectful winners -- to loud, skeptical, and even petulant losers demanding that the timid winners prove their victories with something beyond abiding by laws and official recounts.

Thankfully, the Kerry/Edwards camp took just one extra day to admit defeat in 2004, which was still one more day than it should have taken.  Nevetheless, Mexico's presidential election may be just a preview of this November.  Let's hope not.

Obrador was quoted as having said that "[i]f there is not democracy, there will be instability."

Apparently, anymore, there is instibility regardless.