HIGH HOPES FOR FOX: MEXICO'S NEW LEADER FACES LOFTY EXPECTATIONS

Vicente Fox must envy the next U.S. president (yes, there will be one
eventually) who will face low expectations of what his government can
accomplish.

In contrast, Fox, who will be sworn in this week as president of Mexico,
faces monstrously high expectations. He's expected to bring an end to the
nation's endemic poverty and inequality, as well as its systemic corruption
and economic instability.

Fox's supporters expect nothing less than what he has called a "revolution
of hope." Now, as campaign rhetoric fades into memory and the hard job of
governing begins, the question remains whether this revolution will end, as
have others in Mexico, in disillusionment - or in success.

Early indications are promising. Fox is off to a fine start.

While maintaining good relations with the United States is a top priority,
Fox showed some welcome backbone just days before his inauguration by
calling on America to deal with its own drug habit. ``The United States
year after year blames us. Why?'' Fox said. ``Who lets the drugs into the
United States? Who is doing gigantic business in the United States, then
sends down millions of dollars that corrupt Mexican police officers and
government officials?''

Such bold truthfulness will be needed for the first Mexican president in 71
years not to belong to the badly tarnished Institutional Revolutionary
Party, the PRI. While that makes him a hero to many Mexicans, he inherits
the PRI's legacy of poverty, corruption and crime.

A Jesuit-educated farmer and a marketing genius who made Coca-Cola the king
of soft drinks in Mexico, Fox has pledged to treat the country as a CEO
would a money-losing company. The problem is that a government is not a
company. CEOs do not have to stand for national re-election or maintain
power in Congress.

Fox also will inherit severe budget restrictions that could hamstring
ambitious proposals he has pledged to put in place immediately after taking
office. They include a system of scholarships and financing aimed at
broadening access to the nation's universities, and a new system of credit
and financing for businesses.

Fox already has made progress against corruption. Last week, the lower
house of Mexico's Congress passed his proposal to create a new secretariat
of security and justice to command federal police without political
interference. Fox also has proposed revamping Mexico's attorney general's
office along U.S. lines, and transforming the judicial police in this
office into a group like the FBI.

Fox also has made good on his pledge to assemble a diverse and pluralistic
government. A conservative with deep pro-business roots, he has confounded
critics by selecting as his foreign secretary Jorge Castaneda, a leftist
academic and writer who opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement. By
contrast, business leaders in Mexico and on Wall Street were reassured by
the appointment of Francisco Gil Diaz, a respected economist with a
doctorate from the University of Chicago and former CEO of a major
telecommunications corporation, to serve as treasury secretary.

It's heartening that Fox appears to relish his role as the living symbol of
a nation's hope for change. But Fox and his followers should heed the
lesson that their neighbors to the north are learning as they await the
outcome of their own presidential election - the necessity for patience.