Rousseff’s Realism ‘Positive Surprise’ for Brazil, Cardoso Says

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s first month in office has been a “positive surprise” as she seeks to dismantle the free-spending policies of the previous government, former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said.

Cardoso, who campaigned against Rousseff, said it’s too early to know whether Brazil’s first female president can manage her coalition in Congress as skillfully as her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. She’ll also have to “face her own heritage” of overly ambitious, expensive “mega-projects” that she designed as Lula’s cabinet chief, he said.