Honeymoon May Be Over for Chile President

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet delivers a speech at the La Moneda government palace in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, June, 6, 2006. Public high school students are on a nationwide strike demanding reforms in Chile's education law, including a federal takeover to reduce inequality between rich and poor schools. Bachelet offered students a variety of benefits that will cost Chile some $200 million through next year and to study reforms to Chile's education law. (AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin) (Santiago Llanquin - AP)

Bush also wants Chile to stop opposing immunity from international prosecution for U.S. soldiers charged with human rights violations or other crimes. Under U.S. federal law, Chile's position risks military sanctions, including the denial of pilot training for the F-16 fighter jets the United States is about to deliver.

Bachelet supports free-market economic policies while seeking a stronger safety net for the poor and elderly, giving her more in common with Brazil's moderate leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, than the populist Chavez. But she says there is no reason to "demonize" Chavez.

Bachelet also has declined to comment on the decision by radical socialist President Evo Morales of Bolivia to nationalize natural resources there.

Rather, she urges fellow leaders "to watch our language," a clear reference to Chavez, who regularly calls Bush an alcoholic, a terrorist and an imperialist.

Her effort to find consensus is perhaps the most striking aspect of her presidency, distinguishing her in a male-dominated world. It also helps explain the diverse guest list at a dinner in Bachelet's honor Thursday. Among those expected to attend are Sen. Hillary Clinton, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and U.S. Rep. Katharine Harris.

The president has commanded up to 68 percent approval ratings in opinion polls, but Chileans seem more closely divided over her handling of the student strike.

Some, like magazine seller Jose Perez, praised her "understanding" approach to the students.

Others fretted that she is being too soft. "The president is weak," said Doris Hernandez, who voted for Bachelet. "She should have been much more forceful."

But Bachelet has long shown tenacity during her rise in conservative, male-dominated Chile, surviving imprisonment and torture during the bloody 1973 coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet and later riding herd over the military as defense minister.

Aides say she is firmly in charge, even while making public shows of empathy with the electorate.

They say her education concessions are in line with her campaign pledges to improve Chile's unequal schools, which are widely considered an impediment to the nation's economic success.