Brazilian President Rousseff Escapes Lula's Shadow

It's been a good start for Dilma Rousseff. The Brazilian President, who took office on Jan. 1, has stepped out from under the shadow of her ebullient predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and established her identity as a hard-nosed pol. In February, she jack-hammered through Congress a minimum wage far below the amount demanded by the unions that constitute the base of her Workers' Party. Then her government sent a valentine to the markets by pledging to slash this year's budget. During President Barack Obama's visit, she bluntly called for a more balanced trade relationship with the U.S.

"People are pleased," says Robson Barreto, a corporate lawyer who heads the Rio de Janeiro chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil. "She's making her own decisions, and they're not necessarily the ones Lula would have taken." In a Datafolha poll released on Mar. 21, Rousseff had a 47 percent approval rating, higher than Lula's after three months in office.