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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 24-Mar-08
Sarkozy government becomes paralyzed after defeat in municipal elections

Web Log - March, 2008

Sarkozy government becomes paralyzed after defeat in municipal elections

Socialists gain power across France, leaving economic reforms in doubt.

Last May, after French president Nicolas Sarkozy's euphoric victory over Socialist candidate Ségolčne Royal, I posted a list of the campaign promises that he made:

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He would put the country back to work, particularly by eliminating the enforced 35-hour workweek.

He would solve the problem of illegal immigration.

He would be fair to everyone, including the surburban youth that rioted in 2005.

He would make France a leader in the new European Union.

He would make France a leader in resolving Middle Eastern problems, by means of a "Mediterranean Union," similar to the European Union.

I joked that, after that, he would turn water into wine for the nationwide party. ` Now, ten months later, Sarkozy has accomplished almost nothing -- a minor change to overtime laws, and little else. Sarkozy's approval rating, which was at 65% last July, is now at 38%.

Last week, the leftists won a major victory against Sarkozy's center-right coalition by taking more than 30 cities and large towns, including a landslide victory in Paris. Under France's legislative system, this defeat severely limits Sarkozy's ability to implement reforms.

France's government is quickly sinking into the paralysis quagmire that's affecting all countries that fought in WW II as a crisis war:

The US Congress has barely accomplished anything since 2004, when first Republicans and then Democrats were in conrol. They're so incompetent, they couldn't even pass a Congressional pay raise.

In September, Japan elected Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, after a year of scandal and government paralysis under a younger Prime Minister.

China's People's National Congress was paralyzed by ideology, and could not stop from making a "historic error," in failing to agree on a plan to end the country's mass riots.

Even mainstream media are noticing that European governments are paralyzed, unable to accomplish anything either as individual countries, or in the European Union as a whole.

Israel became paralyzed when Ehud Olmert took over after Ariel Sharon went into a coma, with the people increasingly fearful of Palestinian and Hizbollan missiles.

The reason for this paralysis is that the generations that survived WW II are gone now. Those people did some great things -- they created the United Nations, World Bank, Green Revolution, World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, and so forth. They created these organizations and managed them for decades with one purpose in mind: That their children and grandchildren would never have to go through anything so horrible as World War II. Now all those people are gone, and the people left behind have no idea what's going on or what to do. They're unable to lead or govern. All they know how to do is whine and complain, and wait until the next disaster, the next world war, forces them to do great things as well.

However, Sarkozy's image problems go beyond paralysis.

Many French people are now tut-tutting disapprovingly over Sarko's whirlwind romance and sudden marriage to singer and supermodel Carla Bruni.

For a long time, the two were inseparable, almost joined at the hip, as they traveled from country to country so that Sarkozy could fulfill his duties as President of France. It seemed sexy and romantic at first, but as it went on for months, the French people finally decided that it was just tacky, and they've given Sarkozy the name President Bling-bling.

Sarkozy is now taking steps to 'sober up' after the elections, in an effort to regain Presidential stature and the confidence of French citizens.

If you'd like to see "more" of Carla Bruni, you'll find plenty of opportunities to do so on the Internet.

For this article, we've selected a very pretty song that she sings in English. The title is, "Nobody Knows You when You're Down and Out," and the words reflect very real feelings of a great many people today:

"Once I lived the life of a millionaire,
Spending all my money, just didn't care,
Took all my friends out for a mighty good time,
Buying bootleg whisky, champagne and wine.
Then I began to fall so low;
Lost all my good friends, had no place to go.
If I get my hands on a dollar again,
I'm gonna hang on to it till that eagle grins.

Nobody knows you when you're down and out,
In your pocket, not one penny;
And all the friends, you don't have any.
If you get back on your feet again
That's when you find you long lost friend
It's mighty strange, without any doubt
Nobody knows you when you're down and out."

(24-Mar-08) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 24-Mar-08 Sarkozy government becomes paralyzed after defeat in municipal elections

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 24-Mar-08
Sarkozy government becomes paralyzed after defeat in municipal elections