By LARRY ROHTER
Published: December 27, 2004
BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 23 - He has never convened a full meeting of his cabinet and regularly humiliates his aides in public. He cancels trips abroad at the last minute, shuns regional conferences with fellow heads of state, and cannot be counted on to even appear at meetings with foreign dignitaries who have come to see him.
When Néstor Kirchner became president of Argentina in May 2003, his informal approach to governing and his disdain for protocol and authority were seen as refreshing. But criticisms of the K style, as it is called here, have been growing in recent months in Argentina and in neighboring countries, as the behavior once deemed simply rebellious seems to be reflecting a provincialism and an eccentricity inappropriate for a head of state.
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But foreign diplomats and independent Argentine political analysts say he has lost much of that momentum in recent months. The initial crusader's zeal, they maintain, has given way to a more traditional Peronist leadership style, concerned primarily with wielding authority and making deals and given to authoritarian displays, both of power and of pique.
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Instead, Mr. Kirchner appears to rely on a core of four or five certifiably loyal advisers whom he brought with him to the capital from Santa Cruz, the oil-rich but underpopulated province in Patagonia that he governed for a dozen years. Mr. Kirchner's sister Alicia, the minister of social welfare, is part of that group, as is his wife, Cristina Fernández, an influential senator with a power base of her own and a reputation for being a tough political enforcer.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/27/international/americas/27argent.html?pagewanted=1&oref=loginFunny timing on this article, coming right on the tail of "Argentina's Economic Rally Defies Forecasts" though the author (same for both articles) took pains to say: "Traditional free-market economists remain skeptical of the government's approach. While acknowledging there has been a recovery, they attribute it mainly to external factors rather than the policies of President Néstor Kirchner, who has been in office since May 2003. Increasingly, they also maintain that the comeback is beginning to lose steam."
I'd be interested to know about the various policy centers, think tanks, and analysts quoted in both of these articles. Couldn't find much on Google.
The portrayal of Kirchner in this article sounds every bit like *!