Running head: ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Fumi Komori

Full Sail University

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is the current President of Mexico who will turn 67
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years old in November. He began his political career young in Mexico’s long-

ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He attempted three times in the past

presidential elections, and as the third time is a charm, he obtained the presidency sweeping

to a landslide victory in the 2018’s election (Dresser, 2018), but it was a result after his

long-time struggles and fights for justice, democracy and equality (Mexican Presidency

Annual Report, 2018-2019). When he was elected head of the Federal District government

［Mexico City］in 2000, under the slogan “For the good of all, the poor first,” he promoted

a series of social and cultural programs such as old-age pensions, financial support for

single mothers and the unemployed, transportation infrastructure, investments in urban

redevelopment (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020). As President, he swore that he would

eradicate corruption, impunity and reduce the violence in the country (Mexican Presidency

Annual Report, 2018-2019). He always sustains that the endemic corruption which has

prevailed for long in the country is one of the evil elements on poverty, inequality and

public insecurity that it has suffered for decades (Dresser, 2018). Since he took office, he

first has reduced the hierarchy bureaucrats’ high salaries to more than half and even put its

limit up to the President’s salary which ranges around $5,000 a month (Mexican Presidency

Annual Report, 2018-2019) and (Perrigo, 2018). He has destroyed almost all of the

organized crimes of fuel robbery from the pipelines across the country early in 2019. He

has created a series of social programs such as old-age pensions for all who are over 68

years old, financial support for young people up to 30 years old and for the disabled, and

scholarships for primary and secondary school poor students (Mexican Presidency Annual

Report, 2018-2019). He has continued an early daily morning press conference Monday

through Friday which he began since when he was head of the Federal District government

(Conferencia de prensa, 2018-2020), and has used commercial airlines like any other
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economy class passenger all the time when he has had to visit and supervise other states as

President (Mexican Presidency Annual Report, 2018-2019).

The Creative Active Phase

Creative Task

Robert Greene (2012) identifies the creative task as “one that involves the entire

self―our emotions, our levels of energy, our characters, and our minds(Green, 2012, PDF

version p.204)”. Lopez Obrador also has involved his entire self in politics. In the 2006’s

presidential election when he lost to the ruling party candidate at the time by a scarce 0.56

percent of the vote, thousands of his supporters took to the streets to demand a whole

recount, and later Lopez Obrador made a public ceremony to inaugurate his parallel or

shadow government claiming that the ruling party stole his legitimate

presidency(Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020). It was to appeal to people that the ruling party

candidate’s victory was not credible with all his emotions, energy, characters and minds.

Creative Strategy

Greene (2012) describes the creative strategy to be open minded, to find alternative

ways, and even to see setbacks and failures as something positive and productive. In the

2012’s presidential election when he lost to the PRI candidate for the second time, he

alleged that there had been violations of election law by the PRI, including overspending in

the campaign and vote buying (Encyclopaedia Britannica). His action moved the Federal

Electoral Institute to order a recount of more than half of the vote even though the PRI

candidate Peña Nieto’s victory did not change (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020). He saw

the defeat as something positive and productive to let people doubt the legitimacy of Pena

Nieto because Lopez Obrador was convinced of his arguments with all the evidences he

offered.
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Creative Breakthrough

Greene (2012) shows the creative breakthrough to have a high internal standard that is

not to get satisfied and accumulate “Ideas crowd upon one another (Green, 2012, PDF

version p.228).” As described above, before the setbacks and failures in his two-time

presidential election runs, Lopez Obrador kept his “high internal standard” with lots of

challenging ideas for continuing to seek presidency for the third time and finally

succeeding in realizing it.

Emotional Pitfall

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador experienced “dependency” as Greene (2012) describes

as a pitfall when he lost in the 2012’s presidential election for the second time with the

same center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) party in 2012. Upset with the

PRD who supported the new government’s economic initiatives, he decided to found a new

political party in 2014 to develop his ideas on his own (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020).

Thus, Lopez Obrador could practically develop “internal standards and a high degree of

independence (Green, 2012, PDF version p.230).” And he literally internalized “the voice

of his Master (Greene)” to seek another challenge that was his third run for presidency.

Cross-Comparison: Obrador and Calatrava

Greene’s (2012) characterization of Santiago Calatrava is to be “open-ended, to have

wide knowledge and to embrace slowness (Greene, PDF version p.255).” Lopez Obrador

also has had the same characters when he has accumulated political experiences as head of

the Federal District government and attempted to run for presidency for three times being

open-ended and widening his knowledge as a politician. Finally, embracing slowness as he

had to build his own political party, he succeeded in becoming the President of Mexico.
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Conclusión

Lopez Obrador has experienced creative task, creative strategy and creative

breakthrough with all of his emotions, energy, characters, and minds, always open-minded

taking advantage of numerous setbacks and failures he has faced as positive and productive.

In that sense he also has been always tenacious and perseverant with his ideas and actions.

References

Conferencia de prensa. (AMLO Conferencia de prensa, 2018-2020). Retrieved from

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https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=amlo+conferencia+de+prensa.

Dresser, Denise. Can  Mexico Be Saved? The Peril and Promise of López Obrador.
Foreign Affairs. Sep/Oct2018, Vol. 97 Issue 5, p157-166.  
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2020, January). Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, president of

Mexico. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andres-Manuel-

Lopez-Obrador.

Greene, R. (2012). Mastery. Penguin USA.

Mexican Presidency Annual Report. (2019, September) Informe Gobierno de Mexico 2018-

2019. Retrieved from https://www.gob.mx/primerinforme.

Perrigo, Billy. (2018, December). Mexico's New President Takes Office, Promising

Radical Change. TIME Magazine. Vol. 192 Issue 25/26, p9-9.