Well he wanted it.
It was Nicolas Sarkozy who put "national identity" into the campaign and quite amazingly, Segolene, daughter of Colonel Royal, is meeting him right there.
Two days ago, she celebrated the poetic platitudes of La Marseillaise. Yesterday, she wished that each French family had a flag somewhere in their attic, ready to be unfurled on national holidays (and football victories presumably).
This is Karl Rovian politics at its finest. Attack your opponents not on their weakness, but on their strengths. (John Kerry a war hero? Swift boat him.) Scramble their image. Destabilize their base.
In the meantime, the illegal immigrant roundup scandal unfolds. A kindergarden principal was held by Paris police for seven hours yesterday because she argued with officers who had positioned themselves to roundup illegal immigrant parents dropping their kids off at school.
Yes, we know that Sarkozy (head of the police) is fishing for votes in the extreme right. But it is hard to imagine what poltical consultant in their right mind would advise him to defend the arrest of a school principal protecting parents from arrest.
The French adore their schools. And an heroic teacher standing in the way of an immigrant parent getting pulled off by police? The Vichy echoes are obvious (which Segolene also milked yesterday); This lady will have an avenue named after her!
(If you want to see the incident in all its terrible glory, click here).
What has happened to Sarkozy? His announcement on January 14 was all about NOT being who everyone thought he was. "I've changed" and all that.
He's given that up. Why? Is this new strategy thought out and tested? Or did he just get tired of playing?
It's so bizarre. and I suspect that it's just rashness. As has been reported, his idea for the Ministry of Immigration AND National Identity was an improvisation not written in the script he was reading from. Sarkozy just added it in right there.
And now we are here: an election about his last minute idea, an election about his sudden rush of blood to the head.
UPDATE: Guy Birenbaum makes a titillating observation that Sarko and Sego are no dummies and that this swing into nationalism is most likely because their internal pollsters are telling them that Le Pen is coming up big in the polls not seen by the general public.
Man. This election, drama-wise, rocks.
The LePen vote wioll surprise everyone, elliminatomng Sarko and the second round will be Bayrou - Royale. a fun run off with another huge turn out in the second round but this time it won't be about voting against LePen but against the status quo. the only question is, which one is repping the status quo.
The bottom line is that the ruling class in France is the problem. Left or right, they all think the only solution is more government. Until that changes, France is doomed.
Posted by: Elmer | March 25, 2007 at 11:05 PM