This article from the Economist talks about President Calderon's visit to Washington D.C. and his meeting with President Obama. The article touches on the main topics concerning the two presidents, including the drug war, immigration, elections/politics and the violence that is causing the Mexican people to lose faith in Mr. Calderon and the government.
The meeting between President Obama and President Calderon was called by Obama to show "that the two neighbours have become friends" and to increase cooperation between the two countries. But, even tough Obama has shown his disagreement with the new Arizona law, there has still been an increase in tension between the United States and Mexico. "The governors of Mexico’s border states said they would boycott a routine meeting with their American counterparts in Phoenix." Meetings such as these have helped improve cooperation between American and Mexican official when dealing with drug traffickers, and some people are worried that the boycott of these meetings will have a negative effect on the communication that has recently been improving, "diplomats from both countries note that their daily collaboration has improved". Some of the cooperation between the countries includes "The Mérida initiative, a scheme under which the United States has offered Mexico modest anti-drug aid, has been extended and tweaked to emphasise strengthening institutions, such as the judiciary", the fact that Mexico is allowing the United States to have such a huge role in strengthening institutions shows how desperate Mexico has become for help and how much influence the United States has over Mexico.
The article also talks about domestic politics and how President Calderon is no longer being trusted by the Mexican people to fix the countries many problems, "polls suggest that Mexicans are becoming sceptical of Mr Calderón’s insistence that he is beating the drug gangs." The kidnapping of Mr. Fernendez de Cevallos also hurts the legitimacy of Mexico's government since he was such an influential (PAN) party member and well known in Mexican politics.
This article is important because it addresses the legitimacy of the Mexican government and the dependency of Mexico on the United States and the importance for the two countries to keep close relations.