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...Comparing Candidates As an Argentine, I have to disagree that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is a "Latin Hillary" [Oct. 8]. To mark some differences: Fernández does not care to debate policy, she doesn't dare be interviewed by local newsmen, and she certainly has never worked on behalf of poor people. Fernández is a frivolous woman. Norberto Mazzoni, Buenos Aires
What makes Fernàndez a potential intermediary between the U.S. and Latin America's neolefties is that she's fluent in both political tongues. She came on the scene in the 1980s, when democracy returned in the wake of Argentina's bloody, far-right military junta, and her speeches are peppered with terms dear to Chàvez & Co., like "social justice" and "popular sovereignty." But she also uses expressions from Washington's vocabulary, like "fiscal responsibility" and "capitalistic rationality." And unlike Latin American leaders who accuse the U.S. of evil imperialist designs, she welcomes Washington's leadership...
That description could also fit Fernàndez and her husband Néstor Kirchner. Both cut their political teeth not amid the upper crust of Buenos Aires but in his home province of Santa Cruz, in the country's Patagonian south. When they moved to the capital, she was already a seasoned politician, known for anticorruption and human-rights crusades. Although she had greater name recognition with voters, the couple decided that Kirchner would run for President in 2003 because his greater familiarity with economic policy made him better suited to a country on the verge of bankruptcy. Smart call...
Argentines had long speculated that Kirchner, 57, might not seek re-election and would let his wife run instead. Fernàndez says it was part of an effort "to set an example" of relinquishing power in a country that has seen too many leaders overstay their welcome at the presidential palace, the Casa Rosada (Pink House). Their critics see another motive. They believe husband and wife will rotate the presidency, thereby getting around the constitutional ban on holding more than two consecutive terms. By this logic, Kirchner will run again in 2011, then Fernàndez...
That said, Fernàndez thinks a Hillary presidency, alongside that of Michelle Bachelet, who was elected President of Chile last year, and her own likely win, would change the nature of hemispheric affairs. "Women bring a different face to politics," says Fernàndez, who has a teenage daughter and a grown son. "We see the big geopolitical picture but also the smaller, daily details of citizens' lives. We're wrapped up as much in what our daughter's school principal says as we are in what the newspapers are saying." No interpretation needed there...