Cocky, Frivolous Menem Holds Key to Popularity : Argentina: By controlling inflation, avoiding devaluations, he can win votes of his harshest critics.

President Carlos Menem’s old charm has worn thin. In the eyes of many Argentines, his characteristic panache is too cocky, his facile way with words too glib. His hobnobbing with celebrities, his showy indulgence in sports and fast cars, his flashy clothes and his obvious relish for power all come across as too much.

Some of the political operators around Menem have less-than-savory reputations. The word corruption keeps coming up. Critics accuse the president of callous indifference to high unemployment and stubborn pockets of poverty. His unseemly squabble with the First Lady ended in divorce.

If he once had charisma, political analysts say, it has faded badly since he took office in 1989.

“People don’t like Menem’s style,” said Manuel Mora y Araujo, a leading Argentine pollster. “He isn’t austere; he’s a bit frivolous. He has an entourage that people don’t like.”

And yet Menem, 64, is the most popular politician in Argentina.

In May, he won reelection by an overwhelming margin. When his second term ends in 1999, Menem will have spent more time in the Argentine presidency than the legendary Gen. Juan D. Peron--and he may go down in history as a more important president.

Menem has dramatically changed Argentina. Government companies have been privatized and bureaucratic fat slashed; chronic super-inflation has dropped to less than 4% a year; the economy has expanded by nearly a third in the past four years; the nation has found new confidence, new hope for becoming Latin America’s most developed country.

People who don’t much like Menem voted for him in May. Voters who see him as a frivolous dandy or an arrogant bigmouth surrounded by corrupt cronies grudgingly marked an X by his name on the ballot.

Juan Angel Ponce de Leon, the owner of two small fruit and vegetable stores in Buenos Aires, said Menem’s style makes no difference to him. What matters to Ponce de Leon is the successful track record of Menem’s administration in controlling inflation and preventing currency devaluations. Because the merchant owes $21,000 in business debts, payable in U.S. dollars, a devaluation would be a financial disaster for him.

And because much of Argentina’s commercial and consumer credit is pegged to the dollar, many other voters had the same interest, according to Ponce de Leon. “Those who voted for Menem are the ones who have debts,” he said.

Pollster Felipe Noguera said that when Menem took office in 1989, amid a siege of hyper-inflation and economic disorder, his image was that of an outsider, a flamboyant anti-politician able to find solutions by changing the rules. His association with sports and entertainment stars and his passion for soccer lent him the air of a popular idol.

But as a stabilization program managed by Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo proved effective, Menem’s flamboyance was overshadowed by his accomplishments. “I think he has the image of an executive,” Noguera said, “who gets the job done.”

The image continues to change. “Now beginning to predominate is a more authoritarian image of someone who has more power and doesn’t like anyone questioning that power,” Noguera said. “That more authoritarian characteristic is useful for governing, but it is not a very endearing characteristic.”