French Politics: The King and the Prince!

Last week 'Salon de l'Agriculture' [the French national Agricultural Expo] is over but its popularity shows in that no politician would miss a photo op amid cows and sheep. Chirac knows exactly how to do that –drink beer, pat the beasts and eat the cheeses from the 22 regions of France for the camera, and smile to the camera. The competition is hard for who plays best on the nation’s nostalgia for its rural roots and Chirac is a master.

Now of course, and as always, Sarkozy is right there behind him. As expected, he made it to the fair as well. Now for those who don't know, Nicolas Sarkozy is a man you need to remember for you'll probably hear about him in the next French presidential elections in 2007.

He is Chirac's main rival but is also at the head of Chirac's ruling centre-right party, the UMP. 'Sarko' (as he is called in France) has a unique brand of retail politics. He takes on issues that resonate with the public, finds a quick fix and then capitalizes on the media attention. His popularity soared when he played on the fear of rising crime and the sense that illegal immigration was out of control. He ordered high-profile raids on organized crime gangs, chased prostitutes out of residential areas, and built detention centers for illegal immigrants, always with a media blitz. To sum it up, he 's a populist but it seems to work.

The effectiveness of his measures may be doubtful but perception is what matters, and he's good at that. That's why he showed up at the fair of course, always more or less campaigning and leaving very little rest to Chirac.
Critics actually call him more "American" than French, but he seems to be able to afford his pro-American rhetoric. His actions receive wide and positive coverage by US media of course (but in other countries too), as we could read in Business Week, last year, when Franco-American tensions were still high over Iraq: .

[Sarkozy] gave a speech saying he was "proud" when critics called him more American than French. "There are many good lessons that we must learn from America," he said. "Sarko," as he's widely known, is a new breed of French politician. Dynamic and unabashedly ambitious, he puts pragmatism ahead of ideology, taking his case directly to the public.

These days, he is perceived (for obvious reasons) as the most likely next French President, with a left that seem to propose no alternative, and has no charismatic figure. A poll conducted on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13, 2005 shows this:

Many adults in France think former finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy could be a successful head of state, according to a poll by BVA published in Le Figaro. 57 per cent of respondents believe Sarkozy would be a good president.

Yet despite his popularity, and even though some of his ideas are pretty good (such as more equality for minorities), it is too early to tell whether he'll succeed, and he may have a hard time selling his free-market ideas with cuts in government spending and a more flexible labor market. A good reason why I will probably not vote for him. His overexposure in the media may also be too much for most people, including myself.