At least back then they were bathing in something. By that score they're one better than the left in the U.S., even to this day...
Posted on 05/05/2007 8:34:57 PM PDT by Cincinna
PARIS, May 6, 2007 (AFP)
- Determined, outspoken and unashamedly right-wing, Nicolas Sarkozy is within an ace of his cherished presidential goal, but if he fails it will be because he struggled to win the affection of the nation he longs to lead.
The 52-year-old head of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) has spent the last five years plotting his course to the Elysee palace, convinced that his policy of a "clean break" from the past consensus is needed to shake France out of economic decline.
In office he promises to cut taxes, curb union powers and encourage people to work harder for more pay. He inveighs against the "generation of May '68" whom he blames for the ills of society. And he calls for open debate on French "national identity" -- a red rag to the left.
But Sarkozy also defies attempts to caricaturise him as a pro-rich free marketeer. He backs affirmative action to encourage minorities out of the "banlieue" ghetto, while his support for state help to ailing industries is viewed askance by France's European neighbours.
The son of an exiled Hungarian aristocrat and grandson of a Greek Jew, Sarkozy was born in 1955 in Paris. He has himself said that his father's abandonment of the family four years later deeply affected him, and left a burning need to prove himself to the world.
After the May 1968 student uprising -- when most young French people were bathing in the fashionable ideas of the left -- Sarkozy struck right, and attached himelf to the rising Gaullist star, future president Jacques Chirac.
The two fell out many years later after Sarkozy backed Chirac's rival in the 1995 presidential election, and the 2007 campaign was until recently clouded by suspicions that the president was secretly trying to undermine his former protege's bid for power.
Sarkozy is married to a 49 year-old communications consultant, Cecilia, which whom he has a ten year-old son. He also has two children by a previous marriage, as does she. Their relationship has been rocky, though friends insist she will join him in the Elysee if he wins.
Since 2002 Sarkozy has been a dominant force in French politics, serving at the interior ministry for four years, finance for one, and transforming the UMP into a personal electoral machine.
His inexhaustible energy and blunt-speaking analysis of France's social and economic problems won him many admirers, but at the same time a view took hold that he is a dangerous authoritarian who would divide rather than unite the country if made president.
The 2005 riots by black and Arab youths appeared to bear out this fear. As interior minister he was accused of fanning the flames when he described suburban delinquents as "racaille" or "rabble." There have been warnings of more trouble if he is elected on May 6.
Enemies have made much of his supposed personality flaws -- with one magazine describing him as "in some manner mad, and fragile." Fair or not, the attacks had a clear effect on the campaign -- with swing voters citing his character as a reason to vote for Socialist rival Segolene Royal.
“Right-wing” is a verbal trigger/command for the aggressive idiots to hate him.
At least back then they were bathing in something. By that score they're one better than the left in the U.S., even to this day...
thanks. This one is over and France may have a new beginning.
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