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The Spectacle Blog
François Hollande won the first round of balloting in the French presidential election yesterday, and faces incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in a runoff Sunday after next. Polling shows that Hollande is favored to win:
Three French polls conducted Sunday evening as results came in predicted Hollande would win the May 6 runoff by 8 to 12 percentage points. Ipsos, CSA and IFOP said economic worries drove many voters.
Americans should be rooting for Sarkozy, explains Pierpaolo Barbieri at The New Republic:
Hollande… is ultimately hostage to an unreformed Socialist Party: With France’s powerful and obstinate unions overrepresented in the party ranks, the Socialists have been consistently against necessary economic reform. Predictably, Hollande says he is eager to bring back the 35-hour week and roll back pension changes at a time when the whole region—and arguably the whole world—is swimming in the opposite direction. His proposal for a 75 percent marginal tax rate would be laughable, if it hadn’t been offered in earnest.
After arguing that Hollande could cause a rift with Germany that threatens the Eurozone (and by extention the global economy), Barbieri adds:
In other international affairs, there’s little to look forward to from a President Hollande. He has hinted at a decreased role in NATO and a more critical stance toward America. In other words, Washington can expect an unwelcome return to the Jacques Chirac years. (It should come as no surprise that Chirac is said to be casting his vote for the Socialist.)
Not to invoke the “even the liberal New Republic…” cliché, but it does say something about the state of French politics that so much of Barbieri’s critique would be as much at home in a conservative publication as it is in the center-left TNR. This item by Brad Plumer gives a flavor of how far left France tilts; the Gaullist Sarkozy would scarcely be center-right by American standards, and the “far right” party led by Marine Le Pen — who made a big splash yesterday by winning nearly 20% of the vote — is, like most European nationalist parties, bitterly hostile to the free market.
Barbieri argues that an upset by Sarkozy is not impossible. Let’s hope so.
View all comments (13) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by John Tabin
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/23/frances-disastrous-socialist-f
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Occam's Tool| 4.23.12 @ 2:42PM
I expect to see Europe's economic and social system collapse by 2020. I expect that will come as an immense surprise to Dimitri, Jack, and Clint.
But the demographics are obvious.
Bob S| 4.23.12 @ 5:32PM
The last time it happened, it was called WWII. They'll probably expect us to bail them out again, but the Democrats in Congress and the White House are intent on following Europe to its doom.
Jack in Wi.| 4.23.12 @ 10:21PM
If the neocons at the New Republic are against him, he must be ok. Actually the Socialists will screw up the country bad but Sarkozy has done the same. It is like the elections in this country have been for the last 24 years. We have no choice just an echo.
hook| 5.6.12 @ 3:08PM
And Sakrko is one quarter Jewish, Jack.
hook| 5.6.12 @ 3:11PM
I meant Sarko of course. Wealthy French are running away I have read.
ncatty| 4.23.12 @ 2:52PM
I will not "...be rooting for Sarkozy.." or any of their candidates. Let the French decide.
Scott| 4.23.12 @ 3:07PM
Sarkozy is a socialist. Not as much so,as say BHO,but he's a socialist.
Mender| 4.23.12 @ 7:10PM
That's Europe. The main election slogan of the UK Conservative Party in the 2010 election was that they would not cut the nationalised single-payer health system's budget.
Derek Leaberry| 4.23.12 @ 3:14PM
If the conservative goal is the downfall of the Gramscian-Marxist therapeutic welfare state, then Hollande should be your choice. Demography will inevitably implode the post-World War Two status quo. Better be it when the left is in power so it can take full responsibility.
Trinacria| 4.23.12 @ 3:38PM
"...there’s little to look forward to from a President Hollande. He has hinted at a decreased role in NATO and a more critical stance toward America."
OH NO! A decreased role in NATO? More critical stance towards America? By France? My God, what's next? Djibouti withdrawing from the UN Council on toenail clipping? It's a veritable catastrophe!
Bob S| 4.23.12 @ 5:30PM
It's amazing that the French are so willing to commit political suicide, despite the fact that they are facing an Islam invasion that Sarkozy fought. Are they really that squeamish that they would prefer PC to security? I guess they are the FRENCH after all.
Bob K.| 4.24.12 @ 1:02AM
Why in the hell can't we have election campaigns that last 30 days?
Ron Taal| 4.24.12 @ 10:27PM
If Hollande gets elected and goes through with his plans (60,000 more teachers, lowering the retirement age to 60, etc.) France's debt will increase and this will lead to the collapse of the Euro.