According to the Los Angeles Times, even though Mexico is California's largest trading partner and even though millions of its people are native Mexicans, the "Governator" isn't high on the average Mexican citizen's list of favorite people.

That's because he had the audacity, at the urging of most Californians, to spearhead the effort to repeal a Gray Davis-inspired law allowing illegal immigrants the right to obtain state driver's licenses.

Mexicans are angry about that, says the paper, and they are viewing it as not only a major insult but also an act of defiance directed at them.

The rift over licenses even caused Mexican President Vicente Fox to cancel a three-day California trip recently that, among other things, was to include a meeting with Schwarzenegger to discuss the license issue.

After learning he'd come home empty-handed, the Mexican president decided to stay home.

Schwarzenegger officials have played down the rift, saying high-level talks between California and Mexico take place all the time, on a range of issues.

Either way, it doesn't seem likely that illegal Mexican aliens in California will be able to drive – legally – anytime soon, and that makes most Californians happy, even if it upsets their neighbors to the south.

Editor's note: