Vicente Fox at Pacific

The University of the Pacific hosted former Mexican President Vicente Fox for the Gerber Lecture last night.  I have always thought of him as a transformational leader.  While many of his supporters thought his administration did not do enough to change the country, just the fact that his successor was elected in a clean but close election and many of the things he put in place have continued with Calderon - are indicators of his effect on Mexico.  Mexico has weathered this downturn considerably better than the US and, as Fox pointed out there is a growing middle class - brought about by the opening of markets and the expansion of trade.

I met Fox twice before - both when he was Governor of Guanajuato.  I had never heard him speak in English.

I had several impressions.

#1 - His commitment to markets is strong.  He understands the power of trade.   He told two stories about that.  One he made the quip that the finance minister for Panama was Hugo Chavez - because Chavez's absurd policies for his own country have encouraged entrepreneurs in Venezuela to move their dough to places like Panama.   At the same time he criticized our President based on something which he discussed in his book.   Obama had a story about a Maytag employee who lost health care when the company moved its manufacturing to Mexico.  Fox argued that the story was incomplete.   The move accomplished two things.  First, it added jobs in Mexico and second the remaining jobs in the US were value added jobs.  Without the move, Maytag would have been gone altogether.   Obama's story was only part of the picture.

#2 - I had not remembered that his Grandfather emigrated to Mexico from the US.  He tied in that story to the long history of relationships between the US and Mexico.

#3 - Fox spoke passionately about the benefits of real immigration reform.   He pointed out that by solving that problem the US would actually enhance security.  His point was similar to one made by Arturo Sarukhan namely that 9/11 created some additional problems for Mexicans working in the US which limited their ability to flow back and forth between Mexico.   Obviously, while large migrations cause issues for both countries, the net for both is positive.