El descubrimiento de México

2009: The Year America Discovered Mexico
By Andrés Martinez
Why is bad news from south of the border suddenly dominating U.S. headlines? Two words: nativism and nostalgia.

"Mexico is so refreshingly 9/10. The fact that the bad guys there -- and they are truly nasty -- are not driven by religion or ideology, but are just in it for the money, is reassuringly retro. Still next door and still a mess, though not quite Pakistan, Mexico is a place Americans can always go back to, the way one goes back to basics, or the girl next door. Mexicans may not feel the same way about U.S. intentions, but ever since the James K. Polk administration a century and a half ago, whenever the United States preoccupies itself with Mexico, it takes a breather from more adventuresome empire-building. It was no accident that the pre-9/11 George W. Bush talked about adopting a more "humble" foreign policy almost in the same breath in which he talked about prioritizing the U.S. relationship with Mexico. The two would seem to go hand in hand."