William R. Richardson: “President Clinton made a courageous move in bypassing the Congress on the Mexican peso issue. He had no choice. Mexico…”

“President Clinton made a courageous move in bypassing the Congress on the Mexican peso issue. He had no choice. Mexico was going down the tubes, and the votes in Congress for this unpopular initiative were just not there. He acted with proper authority, and in the end he made the right decision. A stable Mexico is critical to American interests, and let us hope we do not have to revisit this Mexico issue again. What are the lessons of this episode? Bipartisanship on the Mexican issue did not have its finest hour. In the end it looked like the package was being peddled in a bazaar. We must do better on these critical national-security issues. Second, we must remember that we are all part of a global economy, and that turmoil in a country, especially a friend like Mexico, affects us all.”