EDITORIAL: Survival of the French: Sarkozy is Country’s Best Chance for Revival
By The Dallas Morning News
Apr. 22–How do you say “Rudy Giuliani” in French? The answer is Nicolas Sarkozy, the brash conservative politician expected to lead the field in today’s first round of national balloting in France, culminating in a May 6 runoff to decide the presidency.
The top three candidates — Mr. Sarkozy on the right, Segolene Royal on the left and Francois Bayrou in the center — are all baby boomers and represent a generational change of power. All three promise a break from the economic stagnation, cultural malaise and overall decline that has drained France of its vitality.
The French people know they can’t carry on like this, but they fear change. Neither Ms. Royal, as seemingly incompetent as she is glamorous, nor the affable nostalgist Mr. Bayrou offers a substantial departure from the status quo. How ironic, then, that the official conservative candidate, Mr. Sarkozy, is the one most likely to shake up the sclerotic system.
He’s a scrappy, even arrogant outsider who speaks his mind — and he’s given a stiff dose of Thatcherite straight talk about economic reform to the cosseted French. He talks up the U.S. work ethic, and when asked last fall by a French interviewer what it felt like to be called a “friend of the Americans,” Mr. Sarkozy said, “That flatters me.”
For a French politician, this is heresy. So why is he so popular? For the same reason Mr. Giuliani won in liberal New York: Because Mr. Sarkozy knows what ailing France desperately needs and has the personal audacity to push it through. Yet his damaging instinct for provocation makes him a divisive figure, just as Mayor Giuliani was. The centrist Mr. Bayrou has emerged as the candidate for voters who want credible change without needless controversy.
A Sarkozy presidency would benefit the United States, and not simply because French foreign policy would take a more Atlanticist turn. Mr. Sarkozy’s dynamism likely offers the best chance of reinvigorating the French economy. A strong France means a strong ally and trading partner leading Europe.
This election is a watershed moment. If France fails to rescue itself now, the ensuing economic and social despair could call forth a radical response likely to alienate France from its oldest ally and itself from its best traditions.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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