Serious upgrade in Paris
Tuesday, May 8, 2007 at 2:05AM ARTICLE: Sarkozy Wins, Vows to Restore Pride in France, By John Ward Anderson and Molly Moore, Washington Post, May 7, 2007; Page A01
I think this is a great thing, especially as the son of an East European immigrant. France desperately needs to rejoin reality (by 2020, more than half of France will be over 55 years old) and the world desperately needs France to rejoin it (France obstructs progress in so many Core-Gap integration issues).
You've got Merkel in Germany, Sarkozy now in France, Brown soon in the UK and anybody soon in the US and I think the West's leadership is seriously upgraded (with Blair to Brown hopefully not being too much of a step down).
France has become recently what Poland always was for me as a kid growing up: the butt of all jokes. After 12 years of Chirac, his main accomplishment seemed to be making France the much derided laughingstock of the world.
Hopefully that goes away very quickly with a serious adult now in charge.
Reader Comments (3)
Here's to hoping that Italy is next.
Interesting prospect that 'Old Europe' will probably be led by mostly US-friendlies within a year or two. Merkel (my German wife calls her 'Merkelchen'), Sarkozy, probably David Cameron in UK; that clown Zapatero will be out in Spain, Prodi tried to resign already in Italy (for some reason they didn't let him), most of the peripherals are already pro-US.
What's going on? Generation '89 is finally flushing Generation '68 and reckoning with Generation '45...and may even positively welcome Generation 2010.
The shift seemed to reach mass last year at the World Cup (Germans still haven't stopped the flag-waving). The French could not be outdone so they swallowed hard and opted for the man most likely to get them back in business. The next space to watch is the UK because they are really out of it right now as far as identity (will Scotland stay in?, HQ of lingering late-20th pomoism, pathetic princelings, etc.) - Blair was great on foreign, but domestic is a mess.
The most interesting thing about outiders Merkel and Sarkozy is their for-Europe-unusual embrace of faith and tradition. Merkel's family minister is pushing policies that sound like a James Dobson radio rant. At a rally during the campaign Sarkozy emphatically said Europe should not abandon the Judeo-Christian heritage. Maybe they are waking up in time to head off the demographic disaster (see the World Cup Baby Boom in Germany!).
Maybe the fever is breaking in the 'old country'. We'll see.
Watching other countries' elections makes me feel like I'm watching the NFL draft: we really needed an upgrade at France's position - that guy was getting old and was perpetually cranky about his spot in the pecking order. Hopefully our new RB position (Blair --> Brown) will be able to produce, Blair has been ineffective since his nagging Iraq injury - he'd have been gone long ago if his best friend (the QB) weren't singlehandedly holding this team together.
A QB, running on empty, holding his team together despite themselves? Yes, that's right, Bush = Favre in this equation. No new tricks to learn, no confusing schemes on offense. Just keep throwing the ball hard, and praying that the Gap doesn't pick you off. At least Favre has a ring to show for it. Sorry Tom, I'm a Vikings fan.