While next door, Uribe takes a lesson from W

Alvaro Uribe, devoted yoga practitioner and meditator, told me two years ago that one of his mantras was "mantener la humildad,'' maintain humility. Now would be a good time for the Colombian president to make that mantra more manifest.

Last month, Uribe asked prosecutors to investigate Sen. Rafael Pardo, candidate for the opposition Liberal Party nomination in this year's presidential election. Uribe's office claimed to have information that Pardo was conspiring with the country's largest leftist insurgency, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, against Uribe's reelection.

Just days later, under pressure from the media, Uribe distanced himself from the allegation and publicly apologized to Pardo. But Uribe's "apology'' was no act of contrition or an admission of wrongdoing. Rather he said he could no longer stand by his original accusation because revealing its source would be contrary to national interests.