French presidential elections – Some hope for US-France relations?

The upcoming French presidential election holds some hope for the long-troubled US-France relationship. Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy is well ahead in the polls, to the point that the French version of David Duke, good old Jean-Marie Le Pen, is calling him a “scum politician’. Anyone who Le Pen hates this much can’t be all bad.

And Sarkozy is, indeed, not bad at all. A realist (all too rare in France), Sarkozy favors, among other things, a more Anglo-American economic system to replace the suffocatingly inefficient and restrictive, worst-of-both-worlds, Froggie-branded socialism which has led to huge unemployment numbers and regularly-scheduled working class riots; a more active French role in the war on terror; and a solution to the problem of radical Islam spreading throughout western Europe.

Sarkozy is the guy Americans should be pulling for. Quietly, though. At this point, US endorsement is probably the kiss of death to most politicians around the world. But that’s another post for another day.

A Sarkozy victory in France could well be a turning point, not only in Franco-American relations, but in the modern history of Western Europe. If the traditionally leftist French begin to admit the failure of their Socialist policies and begin to swing more to the center, it could lead to a similar (although more subtle, because they have less far to swing) German move center-wards. If France and Germany begin to move away from their failed Socialist systems, the waaaayyyy-left Italians would find themselves singing solo. In addition, one would assume that some solid, realistic economic policies would have near-instantaneous, positive impact on the moribund French economy. An even-slightly resurgent France would do wonders for the stagnant EU.

There are lots of “ifs” and “maybes” in the paragraph above, but the alternatives – a National Socialist France under the unhinged Hitler-wannabe Le Pen, or a further descent into the Peoples’ Republic of France under mega-Socialist (and somewhat hot) Segolene Royal – are bleak. Don’t forget, Sarkozy is well ahead in most French polls, so the part about him winning is certainly well within the realm of possibility, if not probability, even if the rest of the conjecture above will have to be seen to be believed.

Go, Sarkozy. Too bad “Sarkozy” doesn’t rhyme with anything in English – it’s tough to come up with a good campaign slogan. Regardless, phone all your pals Over There and give them the good news.