MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Felipe Calderon took power as Mexico's president on Friday in a chaotic ceremony rattled by fist fights in Congress and jeering protests from leftists who claim he stole a July election that sparked months of political unrest.They claim, but they have no evidence. Just like Florida. And Ohio.
Surrounded by bodyguards, the conservative Calderon slipped into Congress through a back door, quickly declared the oath of office and put on the presidential sash as left-wingers who had vowed to stop him taking office screamed "Get out! Get out!"
He was then rushed out again. The lightning-fast ceremony lasted just four minutes, including the singing of the national anthem, and Calderon was unable to make his inaugural speech.
[...]Dozens of rival deputies earlier threw punches and chairs at each other and leftists built barricades to block the main doors and try to prevent Calderon from entering the building.
Although Calderon's security team outwitted his opponents in Congress, the brawls underlined Mexico's deep political divide and cast doubt on how successful Calderon can be in ending the unrest that followed his razor-thin election victory.
Although his ultimate concession speech was conciliatory, a fact that probably spared us such infantile theatrics here in the States, the left wing in this country since 2000 has worked overtime, with the aid of a sympathetic press, to prevent President Bush from governing. The only thing that put a halt to the efforts, briefly, was 9/11. They haven't acted like the Mexican spoiled children described above, but their behavior at times hasn't been far from it. Witness Cindy Sheehan, for example.
I think they'll lose it completely, just like their brethren to the south, if the next president isn't named Obama or Clinton.
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