Mexico's president walked into the US Congress, praised a new US plan to reduce drug consumption, called for the assault weapons ban to be reinstituted, asked for comprehensive immigration reform and condemned Arizona's new immigration law.
Regardless of where you stand on these issues, it's interesting to look at just how involved Calderon got inside US domestic politics. Indeed, Fox News quotes a bunch of Republican Congressmen who are angry at Calderon's comments and criticisms.
Just like the Republican critics, whenever US politicians (and sometimes pundits) call for reforms in various Latin American countries, some leaders complain that the US is interfering in their domestic politics. I disagree. I've long thought those claiming violations of "sovereignty" over verbal criticisms are really just trying to avoid legitimate and uncomfortable debate.
I think it's an excellent demonstration of our democracy that we let a foreign leader address our Congress, criticize some of our laws and call for reforms. When asked, "How would you feel if a Latin American leader made criticisms of the US domestic politics?" the answer is that I think it's great. I encourage it. I may not agree with them, but I'm open to hearing their opinion.
The hemisphere needs to get over the "stop interfering in my politics" mentality as a way to dodge criticisms. Many of these "domestic" issues actually have transnational effects and even ones that don't are worth discussing. No country should let another country control its public policy, but that doesn't mean that they can't have opinions. It's good for hemispheric democracy and public policy to have more debate, not less.
