Wow: French President Nicolas Sarkozy Conceded To Challenger Francois Hollande.
This means France will be ran by a Socialist President, and his name is Francois Hollande. This election is a very big deal in our World, because, in a way, it points to what is the first major victory for people in Europe who have waged protests against austerity policies in the European Union.
It’ also a victory for advocates of multiculturalism, because French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that multiculturalism had failed:
“Of course we must all respect differences, but we do not want… a society where communities coexist side by side…If you come to France, you accept to melt into a single community, which is the national community, and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France. The French national community cannot accept a change in its lifestyle, equality between men and women… freedom for little girls to go to school. We have been too concerned about the identity of the person who was arriving and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving him.”
In America, Sarkozy would be considered nuts.
It’ also, by extension, a major victory for the Occupy Movement, which has also blasted austerity policies in the EU. And in a way, this woman I talked to at MacWorld earlier this year gave a view that seemed to provide the framework behind Sarkozy’s loss today and the involvement of the Occupy Movement:
In Eurasaia Today, Jeanne Kay wrote that Nicolas Sarkozy’s loss to Francois Hollande marked the End Of Austerity In Europe and pointed to the Occupy Movement as a catalyst:
Indeed, the election’s big surprise was the spectacular surge of Jean-Luc Melenchon’s Front de Gauche (Leftist Front), a coalition of parties to the left of the traditional social-democratic PS (Socialist Party). With an Occupy-friendly platform, the Front went from virtual non-existence to a double-digit finish in the election’s first round, gathering crowds beyond President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wildest dreams throughout the campaign.
And while the Front de Gauche did not win the election, it can be argued that it helped pushed the French agenda to the left, and away from the right-center Sarkozy.
Warning For Mitt Romney, Good News For President Obama
The Sarkozy loss can only be looked at as bad news for GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, and good news for U.S. President Barack Obama. First, because like Sarkozy, Romney, for all of his acts as a ultra-right wing guy, is really right-center. Second, like Sarkozy, Romney’s style, while not “vulgar” as Jeanne Kay described the French President, is not liked, either.
By contrast, President Obama has embarked on a campaign against austerity policies for America, and his calculation has proven to be right on. Here’s President Obama at yesterday’s rousing rally in Columbus, Ohio:
Stay tuned.