Claudia Sheinbaum and Andrés Manuel López Obrador fully agree. Both believe that we are living in a foundational moment, that their responsibility is to cement a historic turn. For this reason, the second will seek to consolidate the work of the first, to make him the best former president.
When the party in power won again in the previous six-year terms, the arrival of a leader did not mean a lack of margin, except for the one who set the budget, to correct, change, add, remove. Continuity was political, not necessarily administrative management.
Against those who predict a maximato, and against those who believe that by sitting in the chair the president – in the old way – will distance herself, if Morena wins the Presidency on June 2, a very different thing will happen: Sheinbaum will have a dual agenda.
The first: it will seek, first and foremost, to consolidate the agenda of changes initiated by López Obrador. In all areas, not only in projects like the Mayan Train or the refinery. For example: the plural coexistence of the 1994-2018 transition will not be reinstated.
The second: you will add your own thematic elements – renewable energies, digitalization, high schools where there are secondary schools, decentralized health centers for clinical analysis and medical monitoring, etc. – in addition to, of course, imprinting your personal style.
So that without any tutelage or subordination, as of October 1, the president would strive to ensure that López Obrador does well as former president, that his positive assessment is consolidated – or even grows –, that every problem is addressed without tarnishing to the current six-year term.
There will not be the classic three letters, where the first letter from the predecessor contains the recommendation to blame the person immediately before for the thorny affairs, for the crises, for the corpses that arise when removing the closet, for the inefficiency.
Sheinbaum is a Lopezzobradorist. His ideology is that of today’s President. It is not understood without it. He will have independence and autonomy, but more than anything he will operate under the ideological arc of the Tabasco cause, to whom he owes his political career, except for the one he did in university days.
All of the above will only add complexity to your government work. His margin of action will be limited, more than by the threat of the revocation of his mandate, by his genuine, assumed commitment that AMLO’s six-year term has to continue winning battles in his own.
The problem, of course, is that he will inherit a government that is dysfunctional to the point of negligence, one where with the deception of austerity money was taken from important things while fueling mega-projects, one where the bureaucratic structure – qualitatively and quantitatively – is rickety. And all without counting the movement’s cadres, as loyal as they are inefficient, who won’t want to let go of the bone.
Starting in October, Morena would continue to blame neoliberalism for any crisis that arises, justifying to the point of praising the efforts of the 2018-2024 six-year term, and when the distracting noise of the mornings fades away, they will leave and never accept how bad they found the house.
This way of governing involves something more complex than the supposed maxim that some swear will come. The new generation fears squandering what they believe Andrés Manuel achieved. By deliberately putting themselves under it, López Obrador’s shadow will haunt them day and night, making it difficult for them to make the best decisions.
As Sheinbaum’s compass will be ideological rather than pragmatic, Lopez-Obradorist rather than realistic, aimed at ensuring that AMLO’s place in history does not crumble, the space for politics will be reduced and not a few will end up missing the office of the current President, whose drag will hinder his successor.
