As Vladimir Putin settles his well toned buttocks into the top seat in the Kremlin, it's France next and the turn of the devilishly handsome Nicolas Sarkozy to face the citizens.
The wise money is going on the Frenchies turfing Sarkozy out on his ear this weekend and electing the Socialist François Hollande as President.
In truth, for those of us pay attention to these things, it has been a very boring campaign but then Sarkozy had very little to crow about and Hollande had the good sense to realise that as long as he played it safe, the comfortable chair in the Elysee Palace was his for the taking.
Of course Hollande may not have been there at all if the former Socialist and Radical Left Party leader, the sleazeball that is Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had not been caught sexually assaulting hotel maids and cavorting with prostitutes.
Hollande's manifesto is wonderfully Socialist and includes policies such as hitting the big corporations, banks and the wealthy with massive tax bills, creating subsidised jobs in areas of high unemployment, creating a public investment bank, granting marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples, pulling French troops out of Afghanistan and building 2.5 million new homes to fight the housing crisis.
Oui, s'il vous plait and then it is on to the big one later in the year, the one where everyone hoping that the present incumbent will remain in power and continue his project to bring equality and fairness to the his country.
Yes, unless his fight against cancer prevents it, it should be another victory for the immense Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
Following that, the bitterly disappointing Obama will usher the Mormon aside and hopefully try to do better than he did in his first administration.
8 comments:
"Strauss-Kahn, had not been caught sexually assaulting hotel maids"
Don't forget the Ian Hislop-style disclaimer.... "allegedly!"
"the bitterly disappointing Obama will usher the Mormon aside"
I tend to agree. I think Obama will probably get a second term as it is, and this is before the spotlight is shone on some of Romney's wacky behaviour e.g. Have you heard how he likes to baptise the dead? Even dead atheists? Such as his father-in-law? Google it, if not. It's really quite an arrogant (not to mention mental) practice.
here it is going to be about the economy not the quirks of the candidates.
will more voters believe that Obama knows how to fix an economy and that things would have been worse without his leadership
or
mitt can fix the economy better and faster so we can get back to buying bigger houses, newer cars, and more shoes
q
I didn't know that about baptising the dead. I did google it and found 'At the time, two hundred million dead people had been baptized, with the help of, among others, willing Mormon teen-agers'. 200m!!
The image of a candidate does seem very important these days. They surround themselves with public relation officers and have make overs. Probably why you hardly get a leader now with facial hair or a bald head. If a candidate gets the satirists and comedians making fun of them for the next 9 months, his image will suffer just like Sarah Palin suffered. Nobody seems to have got an good angle on Obama yet i notice.
"here it is going to be about the economy not the quirks of the candidates."
Like 2004 was?
OK. So it's Mitt to win then! We heard it here first.
Seriously though... Q... The issue who's got the best policies to fix the economy is a subjective issue... Romney/Obama/Potayta/Potahtah... yadda yadda... You'll have your idea about that, others will have theirs.
But baptising dead people? Dead atheists? And dead jews? Honestly, what's that all about? Tell me that's not seriously deranged.
I saw on YouTube when he was asked about it, and he conspicuously didn't deny it.
I find this kind of thing fascinating, probably because there's no real equivalent here. There are some things that are just so different about politics over your side of the ditch.
Another example: Jon Huntsman. During the GOP Primaries he sent the following tweet, which many observers thought actually hurt his chances of election:
"To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy."
"Nobody seems to have got an good angle on Obama yet i notice."
Yeah, regardless of what you think about his tenure so far (and I give him a pretty mixed report card, maybe a C... boosted up to a C+ when you consider the mess he inherited), it's pretty hard to take the piss out of someone who looks so... well... Presidential.
Even when he broke into song* lately, he didn't come across as completely idiotic. That's quite an achievement. Can you imagine Cameron trying the same trick?
* Mind you, if I was his advisor, I think I'd still caution him not to try this trick too often.
Every now and then a deluded British Politician seems to break into song at a party conference and it is just a car crash to watch so Obama came out of that quite well or rather, without serious damage but i agree, someone should warn him not to chance it again.
i thought obama sounded good. i have a first cousin that was a major contributor to clinton, and they are still friends. in person, bill clinton is smart and engaging. i still dont like his views of government. i say the same thing about obama. smart, engaging, funny, all the good stuff. i don't like his views on government.
q
Looks like Hollande has shaded it on the first ballot then. But the second one might involve Sarkozy going hard-out for the far-right vote (i.e. the 20% who voted for Le Pen). Things could get ugly.
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