A Good President

It was a pleasure watching Nestor Kirchner do his stuff during his term of office.

He arrived at the Casa Rosada about the same time as I arrived in Argentina as an immigrant and I watched my new president with fascination.

After receiving the baton of office from Eduardo Duhalde in an untroubled transfer of power after a famous string of Argentine presidents, he struggled briefly with the fact that he had been elected with the lowest percentage of votes in the country´s history.

He then went on to preside over the kind of recovery that no one then thought could happen in Argentina.

I think my favorite Kirchner story was from the opening day of a museum dedicated to the victims of the Dirty War ...in a former military building famous for having been a notorious torture center.

That day it seemed that the top brass was intent on embarrasing the president and his newly inaugurated efforts to reconcile Argentina with its dictatorial past.  Upon arriving at the ceremony, Kirchner found all the portraits of the ex-represores still hanging in their place of honor ...and a General standing in defiance before them.

Surrounded by a stunned press corps, he was calm and even smiled.  Turning to the military officer, he merely said, "Well, General..." and motioned to the largest portrait with his chin.  Defiance collapsed in that moment and papers the next day all displayed photos of a high-ranking, well-decorated man in uniform removing from the wall a well known portrait before a beaming Kirchner.

Four years later, however, he decided not to seek reelection despite reaching 60% in popularity polls ...in favor of campaigning for his wife´s successful bid for the presidency.

Successes after that became fewer.  After winning his party´s top spot in 2008, the Peronists suffered a crushing loss and he was replaced in 2009.  He went on to become a national deputy for Buenos Aires Province but his slate could only muster a close second to more conservative candidates.

My personal opinion of him soured after his support for his wife´s policies regarding the agricultural sector but I have always fondly remembered his term as president.