Legitimizing Leadership: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's 2007 Inaugural Address

In this essay, I examine how Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner used her 2007 inaugural address to legitimize her political leadership. Placing the address within Argentina's political climate and working in light of the fact that Fernandez de Kirchner's spouse was the out-going president, I use theories of political ethos to examine the challenges Fernandez de Kirchner faced in inaugurating her presidency. I suggest that she constructed a hybrid ethos, combining multiple presidential images to reconcile competing concerns. I treat in depth three elements of that hybrid ethos: the ethos of a presidential couple that positioned Fernandez de Kirchner alongside her popular husband; the ethos of a woman president building on a tradition of other influential Argentine women; and the ethos of a teacher-expert whose knowledge authorized national leadership. Enacting these varied ethoi, I argue, Fernandez de Kirchner turned political challenges to her advantage and crafted the presidency she would assume.