ROYAL HURRY: "I'm your gal for 2012"
Nicolas Sarkozy is working behind the scenes to put a government together, and still has several days until becoming France's next president, but that has not stopped Segolene Royal from beginning the 2012 presidential campaign.
Today Royal said that the Socialist primary campaign in late summer and fall of 2006 was a destructive process, and that "internal attacks" were seized upon by the right in the presidential campaign. To remedy this Royal suggested a much speeded up process of designating the Socialist candidate for 2012:
"It will be necessary to reform the calendar of designation (...) It's necessary that the candidate is designated much earlier, so that he is not exhausted in quarrels and internal conflicts."
And her timetable? "Quickly...after the legislative elections, as of the next congress." Any Socialist Party congress would be held in March 2008 or in the autumn. Nothing seems to be stopping her from positioning herself to be the 2012 candidate, although to have any chance of winning, she would likely have to break away from the hard-line socialists and far leftists that have restrained the party from moving closer towards a US/UK style mainstream left wing. With the fractures between herself and her own party this time around, she is also hoping that "Ensemble, tout devient possible."
Segolene Royal does not accept the fact that she suffered a massive defeat on Sunday, and says she is ready to lead her party to victory. In the upcoming Legislative Elections, and again for the presidency in 2012.
I hope the decent humans in France have operatives who can play hardball and work to make sure the socialists remain “bitterly divided”.
Royal’s massive glamour (post makeover)for a split second, gave me to regret that she was on the left. In the end though, she exemplified France’s schizoid, disfunctional character, which I truly believe descends from their evil revolution.
thx
The growth of the center-right in France is the big news coming from France.
In the past, the non-socialist centrists (or, liberals) matter-of-factly joined with the Gaulists (or, conservatives), so as to oppose the Socialists and the far-left.
Now, we see that the Gaulists can win by combining their own strength with a portion of the far right (or, nationalist) vote and a portion of the centrist vote. As a consequence, the Socialists are under pressue to move to the center, in order to court the centrists, and have a chance at a majority. A Socialist-far left combination can no longer get enough votes to win.
I don’t think it will be simple for the Socialists to move to the center. The reason is because politics doesn’t line-up on a single line, from far-right to far-left. Successful politicians in France, as elsewhere, have to pull together disparate and sometimes conflicting factions in order to win.
To Sarkozy’s credit, he was able to able to solidify his base, appeal enough to the center, and keep defections to the right to a minimum (within the context of the French electoral system). Royal, I thought, moved too far to the left during the first round, and did not make enough of an effort to appeal to populists on the so-called right.
France seems to be moving in the opposite direction that our country is moving in. Here, the hard core left of the Democratic Party seems to be in the driver’s seat, and we appear to be headed to higher taxes, socialized medicine, and an anti-western, multi-cultural agenda. Having lost the Congress and in retreat at the state level, the center-right is splintering on the eve of the next Presidential election.
Note tagline.
What ineffable twaddle!
...or perhaps I should say, "What F'ing Twaddle!"
If it is "left wing" then by definition it cannot be mainstream...
Cheers!
Bitterly divided following the defeat of its presidential candidate Segolene Royal, France's Socialist Party......has a new reason to be bitterly divided. ;')
French politico bump.