I don’t know what an electoral loss for Nicolas Sarkozy for will mean (although European Tribune has a good discussion). I’ll just be glad to see him go. The likely winner, Socialist candidate François Hollande, may pulls French troops out of Afghanistan earlier than anticipated, which could cause us some headaches. And antipathy between the new French government and Angela Merkel’s Germany could cause some disruption in the stock markets. I don’t really know. I’d just like to see Sarkozy’s dishonest form of politics discredited. Let him be a one-termer. I’m sure France will be easier to deal with, certainly their government will be less annoying. And the people of France will do better under a centrist-socialist coalition than they will by continuing to follow Merkel’s austerity program.
What do you think?
Will Hollande be a real Socialist, or a phony fraud like the Greek government was?
who’s a real socialist? Do you have an example?
Calvin’s asking, “Will they actually follow through with their agenda, or will they throw it all away at the altar of the austerity fairy where the people really had no ‘real’ choices?”
You are correct in what my point was!!
It’s something like a true conservative, only the opposite.
I would call anyone from Clement Attlee to Lenin a real Socialist. Bernie Sanders certainly is a real socialist. These are people who know how to make policy in the real world, with real political compromises, etc.
I think the problem is with “socialists” who roll back gains working people won with blood, sweat and tears, doing a whole “New Labour”-Clintonian Triangulator thing while keeping the name of an older Socialist Party (i.e., the SPD) with none of the substance.
Lotsa good real socialists out there.
If the French Parliament cooperates, he will be an FDR Democrat and not rock the boat in the European Union.
“Real socialist” is a loaded term post-Cold War. The next question is socialized for whom.
And that’s also kinda my point. Greek’s Socialist government enacted right-wing economics. And they had to know that austerity will not lead to growth. And no, I am not talking about nationalizing industries, like oil and other things.
TarheelDem,
This is totally unrelated, but I thought I would tell you this:
Back in 2010, I was at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. I got on TV while a camera was passing by me (I was on the front row of the crowd.) I flashed my Clemson IPTAY shirt without thinking about it. I just now decided to search the internet to see if there was anything mentioned about it anywhere. A post of yours was the first thing to come up.
You said: “I think there were a bunch of left-leaning people there but also moderates and conservatives who like Jon Stewart’s satire. I don’t think a guy with a Clemson University sports fundraising (IPTAY- I Pay Ten a Year – with the inflation since 1955) tee-shirt on necessarily leans left an might even miss Strom Thurmond.”
I had to make an account here to tell you. I am very left-leaning. And strangely, I am related to Strom Thurmond. Regardless of the relation, I think he was a racist fool.
WHOO! Had to get that off my chest!
First of all, welcome to the Frogpond. Hope to see more from you here.
My hopefulness about my native state just jumped a bit. I went to Clemson for two years (in the Frank Howard era) and in those two years went from being a Goldwater supporter (I graduated from the same high school Jim Demint did but 10 years before him) to being a lefty critic of the Vietnam War and then transferred out because of the oppressive intellectual atmosphere at the time. (ROTC was mandatory then; it was only a few years from being a totally military school, which it was in the 1950s).
Thanks for setting me straight. I am delighted to have been wrong.
How do you figure? Wouldn’t they be more likely to oppose the US since their governing philosophy is radically different than the Randian apocalypse of our own shores? Since they presumably care more about human rights than Sarko’s team?
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From the NY Times article:
His possible defeat carries implications that would radiate far beyond Paris. Mr. Sarkozy has had contentious but valuable relationships with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, a fellow conservative, on European and euro zone issues; with the British on defense issues, including the Libyan war; and with President Obama on issues involving Iran and Israel, NATO and Russia.
You can equate Obama’s policy to Merkel and Sarkozy, especially on foreign policy North Africa, Arab Spring, Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Iran. For Euro zone economic policy and its survival, a strong cohesion between France and Germany is imperative. Hollande will bend towards Merkel and not the other way around. The German national election may change that imperative.
Sarkozy has already announced an earlier pull-back of troops out of Afghanistan, similarly to Australian socialist PM Gillard this week: Mission accomplished? Australia withdraws from Afghanistan early.
Mr. Sarkozy will face a court summons after losing his Presidential immunity about the Pakistan submarine affair and the revenge killing of French naval engineers in Karachi.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."I don’t quite see why the socialist will be easier for the US to deal with. I hope he’s not when it comes to Israel and the ME. And given the manufactured crisis Europe continues to face, is it realistic to think that any head of state can stand up to the imperial World Bank and IMF and their austerity dictatorship?
Still, here’s hoping Hollande at least stems the tide that appears to be dismantling Europe’s social democracy for the sake of a more Paul Ryanish vision.
Agreed on all points. The jury is still out on how assertive a leader Hollande will be, but it wouldn’t take much to be an improvement on Sarkozy and there is still a chance he will be a lot better.
Merkel is a pragmatist and she is facing into elections she could well lose. Hollande will eb in a strong position as a newly elected President. The greater danger is from the ECB and their manipulation of the markets to undermine national sovereignty.
Europe is looking for a new direction and Hollande could be the right man in the right place and the right time. Few tears will be shed for Sarkozy.
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"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Not a word in all this about Weisbrot’s favorite in The Guardian, Melenchon?