Clinton employs humility in Mexico trip

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's deferential approach in Mexico is part of an effort to change opinions

In her years on the political stage, Hillary Clinton wasn't always seen as the most humble of national figures.

Yet in a two-day trip through Mexico that ended Thursday, Secretary of State Clinton has served up humility at every stop.

She has acknowledged in no uncertain terms that the bloody drug wars here are, in part, America's fault.

She has compared the 7,000-plus deaths in drug violence over the past 15 months to the crime wave that hit the U.S. in the 1980s and '90s.

''There are problems in any country. I spend my time thinking about the problems in my country as well,'' Clinton told students and faculty in Monterrey on the campus of Universidad TecMilenio, a high-tech private university with campuses, real and virtual, across the country.

Clinton's tone is part of a conscious public diplomacy effort by the Obama administration to change world opinion of the U.S., which sank deeply during his predecessor's eight years, due to the Iraq War, the treatment of detainees, and other actions.

The approach by Clinton, who's on her first trip to Latin America as the top U.S. diplomat, seemed to be playing well. Mexico, like many other countries in the hemisphere, has often bristled at what it sees as arrogance and hypocrisy from its larger, richer, and more populous neighbor.

Mexicans have objected to U.S. news coverage of Mexico that has focused solely on the drug problem -- and to statements by top American officials suggesting this country is on its way to becoming a failed state, not in control of all of its territory.

''It seems to me, it starts with tone,'' former U.S. ambassador to Mexico James Jones said in an interview before Clinton arrived here. ``The tone should be, the U.S. and Mexican governments have one common enemy, that's organized crime.''

A U.S. military report warned in January that drug-fueled violence threatened to topple the Mexican government. Dennis Blair, the national intelligence director, told reporters on Thursday, however: ''Mexico is in no danger of becoming a failed state.'' He said the growing violence is a result of the Mexican government's campaign against drug traffickers, and added: ``The Mexican campaign is our campaign.''

In her speech at the university in Monterrey, Clinton tried to steer the discussion of U.S.-Mexico relations away from the drug issue, speaking about the commercial ties and global interests that increasingly bind the two nations.