"A Two-Hour Speech/A Two-Hour Speech . . ."
The Gilliganization Of Ségolène Royal
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Featured Stories | Foreign Affairs — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I'm not sure if Ségolène Royal is running for President of France or of Cuba given her filibustering ways. In addition to the long disquisition, she offers a 100-point program. Most people are satisfied with five or ten points, but then again, few people appear to believe so much in the power of government as does Mme. Royal (read on):
Ségolène Royal, the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, unveiled a long- awaited platform on Sunday, veering sharply to the left on economic policy while also stressing discipline and "traditional values."
Ten weeks before the election, Royal is hoping to reverse a slide in popularity that has seen her lose ground to her main challenger, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
In a two-hour speech to about 10,000 supporters north of Paris, she laid out a 100-proposal platform, pledging to raise pensions, to increase the minimum wage to €1,500, or about $2,000, a month and to guarantee a job or further training for every youth within six months of graduating from university.
She also said that randomly selected citizens' juries would watch over government policy and that juvenile delinquents could be placed in educational camps run by the military.
As if to preempt her opponents on the right, she stressed throughout her speech that her ideas had been nourished in 6,000 debates with citizens throughout France, a method she has called "participative democracy."
"With me, politics will never again happen without you," a combative Royal, 53, told the crowd of flag-waving supporters wearing her logo on T-shirts and stickers. "Today I offer you a presidential pact: 100 proposals for France to rediscover a shared ambition, pride and fraternity."
A minimum wage will work in France as well as it works elsewhere, which is to say, not at all. Money used to raise pensions will have to come from increased taxes and apparently, Mme. Royal has not thought to privatize a pensions system so as to give pensioners a choice on how they want their money to be invested. And no government has been able to guarantee jobs as well or as effectively as a free and vibrant market economy has.
Other than this, I think Mme. Royal's speech was excellent.
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"A Two-Hour Speech/A Two-Hour Speech . . ." 5 Comments (0 topical, 5 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
...and probably was the first to rise to give her a standing ovation at the end of the 2-hour, 100-point program.
Honestly...I guess they don't teach communications in France.
The 100 points in all their 14 pdf page glory.
http://www.harriman-house.com/segoleneroyal/royal_pact.pdf
h/t to Helen at EUReferendum's post on the subject.
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2007/02/sgos-pact-with-france.html
...that could be applied to Ms. Royal's 100 point program...then French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau remarked about the Fourteen Points that US President Woodrow Wilson brought to the Versailles conference ending World War I that "Moses only had ten."
Bellinghamster
Thank goodness she's floundering in the polls, and this speech will probably only make her flounder more. (How did she imagine that putting out 100 proposals at once would make her look serious?)
ALLEZ SARKOZY!!!!
"During my lifetime, all our problems have come from mainland Europe, and all the solutions from the English-speaking nations across the world." - Thatcher
...by the French military? Granted, the delinquents need to be taught how to properly surrender, but that will never happen as long as this is happening:
"PARIS – A French judge has charged two police officers in connection with the electrocution of two teenagers whose deaths in 2005 set off three weeks of suburban violence across the country and have influenced much of the debate in this year's presidential elections.
The judge in the Paris suburb of Bobigny charged the two officers with failing to assist people in danger, officials said yesterday. If convicted, they could face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $97,000 under French law.
The two youths, Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traore, 15, were electrocuted in October 2005 when they climbed into a power substation while trying to hide from police who were chasing them. A third youth who was injured said the teenagers, who were of African descent, had done nothing wrong but were afraid of being harassed by police who had set up a roadblock.
Judge Olivier Geron based the charges in part on an internal police report that faulted officers for failing to notify the electric company that youths had taken refuge in the dangerous substation."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070209/news_1n9world.html
...so they should have shut off the power in the ghetto to save the hoodlums? France is toast.