THE DAY AFTER: A NEW ERA BEGINS IN FRANCE

“To respect Madame Royal is to respect the millions who voted for her, and a president of France must love all the French people.” Nicolas Sarkozy, President-elect, French Republic, 6 May 2007

soulagement, nom masculin

Sens 1 Fait d'être soulagé, de soulager. Synonyme adoucissement Anglais relief Sens 2 Ce qui soulage.

ARBEIT MACHT FREI

In the final hours of the campaign, Ms Royal leveled an ugly warning: voting for Sarkozy is dangerous; electing Sarkozy will lead to riots, violence, and brutality. In the Marais, where I am staying, the walls were magically plastered overnight Friday with photos of the Auschwitz concentration camp gates, its famous slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" and, under it, simply, "Nicholas Sarkozy," raising the spectre of a brutal regime in the making.

Even Jacques Attali, the man who hired Ms Royal to work for President François Mitterrand, rushed to assure voters that Mr Sarkozy is a democrat and there is no fear of revolution.

One may be tempted to dismiss this as an act of desperation of a candidate who has been feeling the ground giving way under her feet ever since Wednesday's debate; or, simply, yet another venomous attack coming from the mouth of an ill-tempered, authoritarian, and genuinely nasty woman.

Yet, having studied this candidate since Day One, watching the videos on her site and listening to her speeches, I consider this latest attack not an aberration, not an act of desperation, but very much in character indeed. This is a candidate who will say and do whatever it takes to carry the vote. Her arranging to debate with the loser of the first round; her dropping the rumor she might even appoint him Prime Minister (a man heading a party that has always voted with the right!); her cinematics and hypocritical anger on the issue of the number of handicapped children in French schools during Wednesday's debate (an issue that boomeranged back at her); her capricious campaign -- all point to the obvious: Ms Royal has no principles. She is ruthless and will stop at nothing to move into the Elysée.

As if it were not dangerous enough to elect someone without principles to the highest office of the land, Ms Royal clearly lacks the gravitas of the office. She has collected, over this campaign, a bouquet of gaffes large enough to bog her down. And down she will crush at 8:01 this evening, hopefully to be forgotten faster than Edith Cresson, an (equally hapless) Socialist Prime Minister in the early 90s.