While the New York Times has become an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War, the paper remains a cheerleader for neoconservative political forces in South America. This again became clear with its October 28, 2007 profile of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who won a landslide victory yesterday to become Argentina’s next president. Although Ms. Fernandez was leading in polls by 25%, the article portrayed her as lacking people skills, and relied on an “expert” critic who argued that her economic policies risked her “ending up with no support at all.” This from a United States media that framed George W. Bush’s narrow victory over John Kerry in 2004 as a sweeping mandate for the entire Republican agenda. The Times’ hostile coverage of Fernandez echoes its stories on Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales: in each case, the political popularity of progressive economic policies is framed as transitory, while the failed neoliberal agenda is depicted as the recipe for success.

The sweeping election of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in yesterday’s Argentinean election gives progressives another reason to cheer events in South America. Wife of the current president, Ms. Fernandez is a longtime political leader who has been outspoken against the Iraq War, a critic of the International Monetary Fund, and a strong ally of Venezuela’s Chavez.

But as those familiar with the history of U.S. relations with South America well know, none of those stands have ingratiated Ms. Fernandez with our nation’s political elite. And as elite opinion goes in international affairs, the New York Times follows.

What was unusual about Alexei Barroionuevo’s October 28 story (“In Argentina, a Campaign Promising Change Offers More of the Same”) is that it appeared to have been written to describe a likely losing campaign by Ms. Fernandez. In other words, a candidate ahead in the polls by 25% was described as pursuing policies that are unpopular---a bizarre contradiction never reconciled in the article.

For example, the reporter notes that while the bulk of her support comes from Argentina’s lower classes, “many see Mrs. Kirchner as aloof and tough to comprehend in speeches.”

Wait a second. If the latter statement were true, why would this group form the bulk of her support? Did this question not occur to a Times editor?

But it gets worse.

The reporter then says---without even bothering to put the words into the mouth of an “expert”---“she could risk losing their (the lower classes) support if she does not adjust her husband’s economic policies to stem rising inflation and prevent a looming energy crisis.” Now the Times reporter is saying that although Ms. Fernandez has pursued policies popular with her base, she must abandon these popular policies to maintain this support.

When has the U.S. media told an American politician to abandon the policies that got them elected? Yet this is the Times’ prescription for Ms. Fernandez in Argentina.

Still pounding on the theme that Fernandez must change her progressive economic course, the Times quotes Daniel Kerner, an analyst at Eurasia Group in New York. Who is the Eurasia Group? According to its website:

“Eurasia Group has worked with government leaders (as well as opposition leaders) throughout the world. AIG, Bear Stearns, Boeing, Citigroup, ExxonMobil, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Google, Merrill Lynch, Motorola, News Corporation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Shell are among Eurasia Group’s more than 200 multinational clients.”

The group’s founder, Ian Bremmer, got his start on the faculty of Stanford’s right-wing Hoover Institution.

Kerner was obviously the perfect choice to serve as the Times’ “objective” expert on Argentina’s politics. And he came through smashingly, telling Times readers, “as inflation continues to rise, the lower classes will suffer, and she runs the risk of ending up with no support at all.”

In other words, despite incumbent President Kirchner achieving great economic progress for Argentina, and despite this progress following a period in which neoliberal economic policies brought the nation to bankruptcy and disaster, those in power in Argentina are pursuing the wrong course. To keep her political base, new President Fernandez must betray those who elected her, and return to the South American tradition of leaders ignoring what they promised voters.

What the Times and Kerner are really saying is that Fernandez will be in trouble unless she starts following the advice of the Eurasia Group and other think tanks serving the interests of multinational corporations.

President Nestor Kircher made it clear that he does not care what the U.S. media write, and his wife is likely to pursue the same course. But Argentina also has a vibrant progressive media, something lacking in the United States outside of the Internet.

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