By Brian Byrnes

The Queen’s honeymoon was over before it even began. Less than 72 hours after she donned the azure-and-white sash as Argentina’s first elected female president, her highness had already gone to battle.
 
Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s reputation as strong-willed, outspoken and sometimes flippant had earned her the faux-royal title, and it was proven in spades on December 13,  when she took the podium at the Pink House in downtown Buenos Aires to blast U.S. allegations that  Venezuela's Hugo Chavez had tried to fund her presidential campaign with clandestine petrodollars.
 
With pointing fingers and a steely glare, “garbage” was how she described a U.S. prosecutor’s charges that a suitcase from Venezuela stuffed with $800,000 in cash had been destined for her campaign coffers before it was detained at a Buenos Aires airport in August. Fully aware of the moment, Cristina played the gender card, vowing not to be “pressured” because she was a woman and -- in a not-so-subtle dig at the Bush administration -- promising to strengthen relations with “friendly” countries, like Venezuela.
 
Not exactly a winning start for a president who was expected to improve ties with the U.S. following a frosty four-and-a-half years under her predecessor (and husband) Nestor Kirchner, who routinely blamed the IMF and Wall Street for Argentina’s catastrophic economic collapse in 2001. Cristina--with her penchant for globetrotting, high fashion and political discourse--would surely be able to patch up foreign relations, or so everyone thought.
 
It turns out the post-inauguration dust-up was a sign of things to come. As she marks the 100th day of her presidency today, Fernandez de Kirchner’s approval rating remains high -- 54 percent according to one recent poll, 65  percent according to another – and Argentina is enjoying sustained 8  percent  economic growth, but problems are mounting for the fledgling presidenta, chief among them a growing perception that the First Gentleman did a better job when he was in charge. 
 
A poll released on Sunday found that few Argentines have faith in their new leader. When asked who inspires more confidence, 37 percent  said Nestor, while just 18 percent answered Cristina. Nestor was known as an early riser and tireless worker; Cristina’s afternoon arrivals and long vacations have quickly earned her the title of “part-time president” in some local press.
 
Clearly not the ideal way to start a mandate, and there’s more trouble brewing. 
 
Argentina’s powerful agricultural sector has been on strike since March 13, protesting the government’s new tax increase on commodity exports. Nestor’s administration clashed repeatedly with farmers, and they clearly still have a bone to pick with the Kirchners.
 
An energy crunch continues to nag Argentina and frozen utility rates have discouraged investment in the troubled sector. Cristina has taken token steps recently to try to reduce the crunch. In late December, she temporarily ordered Argentina’s clocks set forward one hour with hopes of shrinking electricity consumption during the sweltering South American  summer. There are conflicting reports on whether that move was a success. She also called for millions of free low-watt light bulbs to be distributed around the country. But a cohesive plan to get Argentina’s energy grid on track is still lacking--as is one for tackling rising inflation.
 
The private sector and economists refuse to swallow the government’s suspiciously low official inflation rate of 8.5  percent  (most put it at more than twice that number). A recent poll found that when asked if they believe the government inflation numbers, 74 percent said “no.”
 
Cristina did come out looking good both at home and abroad when she worked to calm tempers earlier this month after a conflict centering around the death of a Colombian rebel leader almost brought Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela to war. She has also been actively working to secure the release of Ingrid Betancourt, the former Colombian presidential candidate held captive by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) since 2002, and will meet with French president Nicolas Sarkozy on the issue in Paris next month.
 
But there seems to be more headaches than headway on foreign affairs issues.
 
A scandal involving foreign diplomats stationed in Argentina who allegedly imported and sold Hummers, Mercedes Benz sedans and other luxury vehicles at a profit is still unfolding, and it cost Argentina’s deputy foreign minister his job this month. 
 
A human rights champion, Cristina raised eyebrows in February when the first state dinner she hosted was held in honor of visiting Equatorial Guinea dictator Teodoro Obiang. 
 
And last week came the icing on the 100-day cake. Condoleezza Rice skipped Argentina on her South American tour, an omission viewed by many as a sign that relations between Buenos Aires and Washington have yet to thaw since Cristina’s ill-advised, anti-U.S. outburst in December. Local reports this week claim that Cristina – eager to be an international player – was furious at the State Department snub.
 
One telling illustration of the differences between the two Kirchner presidencies was published in a local newspaper on Sunday. Perfil reported that in his first 100 days as commander-in-chief, Nestor met with international heavyweights like George W. Bush, Tony Blair and then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell--whereas Cristina spent time recently hanging with Latin leftists like Chavez and Evo Morales, as well as chatting up supermodel Naomi Campbell and hunky Spanish actor Antonio Banderas.
 
An audience fit for a queen, yes. But for a president?