Chirac is being red-carded!

I am in total agreement with this idea in The Economist that President Chirac has wasted the 11 years of his presidency and the polls show it. He is the most unpopular president of the Vth Republic. And yes he does deserve to be carded out of the game:

Like any metaphor, I think the comparison with the failure of the French team at the World Cup has its limits.
What the World Cup did best is to make people forget about the French government for a month. As Libération puts it, the general feeling is that the dream (i.e. the distraction) is over and we are now back to some gloomy reality:

For a month, France has been dreaming with Zidane. This morning, it wakes up to Chirac.

I also agree with The Econmist's article that Chirac has only one good thing for himself, he has always been consistent in fighting racism and anti-Semitism. but unfortuntaly, he has missed the main point - integration through work. How Thuram said it (see our post here), that's what will really give people of immigrant origins a sense of belonging.

I still don't get why Chirac has not announced he would not run again in the presidential elections next year. He has no chance anyway and making such an announcement would have given him the last pportunity to leave with grace. It seems that rivalries and bickerings with wanne-be-president Sarkozy (of the same political party) is more important than the well being of the nation. No, really, Chirac will not be remembered as a great leader!