Chirac shafts Sarko, his own party candidate

By James Lewis

Imagine if George W. Bush slyly promoted Hillary in 2008 because he personally disliked the GOP candidate. It's not in character for President Bush, but it is exactly how Jacques Chirac has acted more than once. According to the London Times, Chirac is now trying to destroy his party's pro-American candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. Charles Bremner writes,

In the Florentine world of Paris politics, the suggestion is that Chirac would prefer to see his side lose next year than be succeeded in office by "the traitor" as he used to call Sarkozy. ...now that Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate, has been triumphantly anointed by her party and elevated to saint-like status by the media, Chirac is busy trying to derail Sarkozy and his own party's chances in next April's elections.

The militant Royal is the Hillary of France. She is a hard-line socialist who has already proposed raising taxes. She has also demanded that Britain abandon its traditional alliance with the United States. Sarkozy, on the other hand, has shocked the French elites by actually saying positive things about the US. If elected, he may try to bring more competition into the stultified French economy. Apparently, if you want a friend in Paris, buy a French poodle.

James Lewis