When Vicente Fox became president of Mexico in 2000 he made history as the “terminator” of the 71-year-long rule of Mexico’s staid old party.
That was one of the reasons behind the obvious rapport between this rancher-turned-Coca-Cola-exec-turned-politician-turned-TV-personality and the subject of last week’s interview, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The conversation between Fox and Schwarzenegger showed on Guadalajara’s Channel 13, in English with Spanish subtitles. It was, of course, an occasion for spotlighting Schwarzenegger’s achievements, including his movie career in such blockbuster roles as “The Terminator.” Yet in the course of the hour-long program, so many surprises and so much rapport between the two men emerged that those who dislike the “Gobernator,” as well as detractors of Fox (who left office in 2006 and has been criticized for the high-profile role he has played since then) may have come away disarmed.