Deja vu all over again

tv5.org ^ | 5/5/2011 | tv5.org

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

CHANGER LA VIE ! 1981. François Mitterrand is elected as French President and wants to "change life" with 110 bills and the support of all the Left's voters. Time is short: he knows he's ill. But two years later, an unprecedented austerity plan is put in place...

Directed by: Serge Moati, France, 2010 Written by: Serge Moati, Christophe Barbier, Hugues Nancy

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I watched this film/show the other night and was struck by the similarities to our current situation. My premise is that the election of the socialist (formerly communist) Francois Mitterand to the presidency of France in 1981 is a more or less exact parallel of where we find ourselves in the US.

After DeGaulle formed the 5th Republic in France in 1958, there had only been presidents from the right wing side of the aisle. Mitterand worked under Vichy, had switched sides to join the resistance, had been a communist and later became a socialist. He was the first left wing president of the 5th republic, elected in 1981.

His campaign slogan was "Changer la Vie" - Change the Life. Sound familiar? A red rose was apparently the symbol of this campaign. When he won in 1981 people were dancing in the streets and moved to tears. He made sure he was filmed at the Pantheon in Paris - donning the symbolism of the heroes from the past. Again familiar?

He instituted a policy of redistribution and "equality" as soon as he got in only to bump up against the hard reality of running out of other people's money and enforced by the discipline of the foreign exchange markets and Reagan and Thatcher.

Another parallel was the scene where he meets with his predecessor, Giscard D'Estaing on the day of power handover and Giscard is gracious to Mitterand and Mitterand is hateful and contemptuous in return.

I was struck by the many parallels. Sadly, Mitterand hung on for 2 terms - 14 years - and many of the changes that he instituted (35 hour work week for one) took decades to get reversed.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Pinging Cincinna.