Alas, a second term was not to be: in the
aftermath of Sunday's French presidential election, one cannot
help but wonder what could have been had the incumbent made an effort to be
just a little more likable...and to what extent François Hollande's
narrow victory really represents the socialist revolution that his supporters
claim it to be.
Tag - Sarkozy
Saturday 12 May 2012
Sarkozy Non Grata: French Voters Stick It to the Little Engine That Couldn't
By Baron von Rupp on Saturday 12 May 2012, 17:28 - In the News
Saturday 21 April 2012
French Presidential Election 2012: Round One
By Baron von Rupp on Saturday 21 April 2012, 19:10 - In the News
We're finally there.
Tomorrow, French voters will go to the polls to decide who will be the next Président(e) de la République, ending a rather tiresome and tedious campaign whose most interesting moments played out around the catastrophic, worse-than-Gary-Hart implosion of Dominique Strauss-Kahn last summer. Ho-hum. Anyway, here's how it looks to this expat on the eve of the big vote.
Saturday 17 December 2011
Jacques Chirac Tried and Convicted! Well, sort of...
By Baron von Rupp on Saturday 17 December 2011, 16:10 - In the News
Against all
odds—or at least against the logic of cronyism that usually prevails in such
cases—Jacques Chirac was convicted in French criminal court
last week on charges related to criminal activity perpetrated by the political
machine he built and ran as mayor of Paris. Never mind that he wasn't
personally in court, or that he won't spend a minute in jail...
Tuesday 2 August 2011
2012 Election Part II: Jean-marie Le Pen sabotages his daughter's campaign...again
By Baron von Rupp on Tuesday 2 August 2011, 15:59 - In the News
Marine Le
Pen's exhaustive effort to create a kinder, gentler National Front party
capable of vacuuming up disgruntled ex-Sarkozyists and other moderate
right-wing voters hit another snag last week, once again of the family variety:
her father and former party boss Jean-marie Le Pen has dragged the far-right
party into the Europe-wide discussion concerning the underlying causes of the
recent massacres in Norway. And not in a nice way.
Thursday 2 June 2011
Election 2012, Part I: What the DSK Affair Really Means
By Baron von Rupp on Thursday 2 June 2011, 16:30 - In the News
With the 2012 French presidential election less than a year off, campaign season is well under way. For much of 2011 the mediatic frenzy seemed rather dull, what with the contest between incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and popular socialist candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn being a done deal and all.
Oops.
Let the fun begin!
Wednesday 16 March 2011
Jacques Chirac trial postponed...forever??
By Baron von Rupp on Wednesday 16 March 2011, 11:15 - In the News
When a French court postponed the criminal trial of former president
Jacques Chirac last week, the subtext was clear: the man will
never be held accountable for the criminal activity that helped create the
political machine that got him elected in 1995. I guess the word "equality,"
proudly inscribed alongside "freedom" and "liberty" on official French
buildings and documents, does not include equality before the law for wealthy
and powerful men.
Sunday 27 February 2011
Can't We All Just Get Along?
By Baron von Rupp on Sunday 27 February 2011, 16:27 - In the News
Recent events have me convinced that bi-partisan communication working towards
common goals is just not on people's minds these days. And I'm not even going
to bring up Mitch McConnell, because I don't live in America
and I can thus go on pretending he doesn't exist.
Saturday 5 February 2011
Less Paid Holidays in 2011?!? ACK!!!
By Baron von Rupp on Saturday 5 February 2011, 10:03 - In the News
In an
alarming calendrical conspiracy
uncovered by Le Monde earlier this year, five of the 11 French
national holidays will fall on a weekend in 2011...
...but the real question is this: How is that the world capital of institutionalized vacation hasn't stumbled onto the the idea of the observed holiday?
Sunday 28 November 2010
Has Sarkozy Finally Lost it??
By Baron von Rupp on Sunday 28 November 2010, 16:21 - In the News
As already
noted many times in these pages, political scandals and general public
tomfoolery are pretty consistent landmarks on the French political
landscape. This week, however, President Nicolas
Sarkozy let loose one of the strangest tirades to ever come out of the
mouth of a sitting European president (something even worse than his apparent
show of support for the athletic teams of the University of Texas at Austin in
this file photo: hook 'em, Sarko!).
Sunday 21 November 2010
Freedom of the Press
By Baron von Rupp on Sunday 21 November 2010, 17:11 - In the News
In the 2010 edition of the
Press Freedom Index, the international free press watchdog
Reporters Without Borders ranked France
number 44 in the world. What in the name of Voltaire is
happening in this country, the birthplace of the modern secular republic? Now
that I think about it, there have been some pretty alarming developments since
I first came to La République a number of years ago that might or
might not be getting ink outside of The Hexagon: here are a
few.
