It makes you wonder what the French dynamics are - 53/47% (win/lose) - are there that many French that buy Sarkozy’s right-wing authoritarianism and his Reaganomics?

You know every time I hear that France suffers from high unemployment I wonder what life is all about. First, is it really that high relative to the US (who only counts people collecting unemployment - not those in prison, or those who just gave up)? Or is this just an illusion? Are the French really looking for a 50 - 60 hour work week? Have they given up on their notion of what the quality of life means vs the American me first greed machine?

I don’t know. I don’t think Sarkozy won in that sense. I think it was a neatly woven coalition of the neo-nazis and the Sarkozy right that got the vote - a fear of Muslim immigrants.

France is such a tiny speck of a nation - we tend to forget that - but they do represent a culture which is contrary to the American dream (which is on its way to collapse). So it does seem like a very wrong road for France to have chosen with all we know today. So unimaginative of the French.

Wow! An 85% voter turn-out.  Has that ever happened here in the states?  Of course, the French hold their elections on a Sunday when most people aren’t working, which helps get people to the polls.  I’d like to see America try something like that, but it will never happen.  If we tried the French idea and held our elections on a Sunday, the Christian fanatics would scream that we were interfering with religion, if we tried to hold the election on a Saturday, the Jewish fanatics would start screaming, and if we decided to create a paid voter holiday during the week, the corporate fanatics would scream that we were causing them economic hardship.  I guess we are just going to have to resign ourselves here in the states to low voter turn-out.

Very bad news for France.

Dear Mr. Sarkozy,

First of all you have to stay away from Bush and don’t be his second poodle as Tony Blair !

Bad news for France!