THE NEW PRESIDENT OF FRANCE


It was interesting watching the final round of the French elections. Once the other ten candidates were eliminated, and the battle became a straightforward 'right vs left' contest. I knew Madame Royal would have a very difficult time.


Looking at Monsieur Sarkozy, it was quite obvoius that he had done all his homework. He had already eliminated all oppositon inside his party, so there were no side shows to take his audience away from the main stage. The stagemanaging of his every move, even including the contrived spontaniety of his supporters, impressesd the locales who were not accustomed to this sychronised presentation. Obviously there were times when he went too far, as the episode when he mounted a horse to demonstrate maybe his 'wild west prowess'.


Madame Royal was not so lucky. As a candidate for the Socialists Party, she suffered from all the backstabbing that we have come to expect from the left in France. Even in the final round there were those who were still openly hostile. Of course she made mistakes. They both did. But very often, it was she became the but of condescending jokes, and ridicule in the newspapers. Her dialogue with Monsieur Bayrou was amiable, and wise. It showed that she has more imagination than people gave her credit for. Maybe she was a little too aggressive in the debate with her opposite number, but then she had to go for the knockout punch. Somehow it did not work. People had already made up their minds.


And what of President Sarkosy? I am not too hopeful. He has made too many promises to keep them all. As usual, and as any new politician in office, he will learn changing the direction of a country is far more difficult that he imagines. With elections in June, it will be interesting follow his progress as he starts his first year in office. But his initial posturings suggests that he regards himself as an international player a la Tony Blair. Image is not everything, and pretty soon he will have to start to deliver. We will wait and see.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I, for one, an quite glad that Blair is leaving. Great Britain saw the advent of many gay lobby victories under his watch, and also sent 8,000 troops in the unjustified invasion of Iraq. He also was a devotee of big government.

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