WHAT IS THERE WORTH CONSERVING?:

Can Sarkozy change the face of France? (Katrin Bennhold, July 08, 2004, International Herald Tribune)

The personal dimension of the two men's rivalry has fascinated the French media for almost a decade. [Nicolas] Sarkozy was transformed from political son and rumored future son-in-law (he had an affectionate friendship with Chirac's daughter, Claude, in the 1980s) to traitor when he backed Chirac's rival, Edouard Balladur, in the 1995 presidential elections. Two years ago, Sarkozy's popularity obliged Chirac to tap the trained lawyer for the government.

Chirac responded by giving him the toughest jobs available. In 2002, as crime topped the list of voters' concerns, Sarkozy was placed in the Interior Ministry. Then, in a cabinet reshuffle in March after a stinging defeat in regional elections, Chirac sent him to the Finance Ministry, where he faced the formidable task of stimulating the flagging French economy with a gaping hole in government coffers.

But neither challenge seems to have dented Sarkozy's popularity - according to a poll published by the polling institute Sofres this month, 51 percent of eligible voters want Sarkozy to play an important role in French politics in years ahead. Only 34 percent professed confidence in Chirac, who has yet to announce officially whether he will chase a third term.

But the jockeying between the two men goes well beyond the individual rivalry. Strip away the personal drama and it becomes, in the view of some political observers here, a clash of the old France with an embryonic new one that could herald a fundamental shift in governance.

According to Nicolas Domenach, author of Sarkozy's latest biography, Chirac believes France is a fundamentally conservative country where reform needs to occur slowly, while Sarkozy is convinced that France craves change right now.

"Sarkozy embodies a new generation of politician," Domenach said. "If he becomes president, it would change the nature of the job from something traditionally almost monarchial to something much more prime-ministerial, hands-on."

Brice Teinturier, director of political studies at Sofres, says Sarkozy is to France what Tony Blair was to Britain: someone who transgresses traditional party lines and who spreads his gospel skillfully in the media.

"His style is novel," Teinturier said. "French presidents have always been heirs to a certain political family. Chirac presents himself as the heir of Gaullism. Sarkozy doesn't incarnate a specific ideology.

"If voters elect him, it would indicate that they have fundamentally modified their view of how politics should be conducted," Teinturier said. [...]

His whole life has been a campaign to reach the top, his friends say. Patrick Balkany, a teenage companion and fellow Hungarian who is now mayor of a Paris suburb, remembers asking Sarkozy in 1974 what he wanted to do with his life. "We were walking down the street and he answered without hesitation: 'The only thing that interests me is becoming president.' I didn't laugh."

They need Blair, they're getting Clinton.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 8, 2004 9:37 AM