VIVA LA FRANCE

Wow, who would have thought that the French would finally come to their senses. In a stunning victory for America, France elected center-right candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy as her next President.

With 85% of the electorate voting, Sarkozy received 53% of the vote to defeat Socialist candidate, Segolene Royal, and will assume the Presidency from the inept, anti-American, Jaques Chirac.

First off, kudos to the French for their fine showing at the polls. Can you imagine an election in the US with an 85% voting rate? Sadly, neither can I.

Being of French descent, and mostly embarrassed for the past 2 decades, I can finally claim my heritage instead of claiming French-Canadian lineage. Aside from personal feelings, let's look at what brought about this swing towards sanity among the French.

France has not been doing so well as of late. While the French people enjoy free education, health care and a 35 hour work week, the French economy is in the toilet. French youths run wild in the streets, burning cars to protest the slightest change, and their largest company, Airbus is years behind in getting its' newest plane into production. This is the direct result of years of weak leadership and liberal ideas, culminating in the disastrous presidency of Jaques Chirac. The French haven't has a real leader since Charles DeGaul.

Segolene Royal, the Socialist Candidate, represented more of the status quo. Though she was a beautiful woman and popular, the French people didn't want more of the same.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the son of Hungarian immigrants, was the antithesis of what the French usually want in a candidate. He didn't have a French name (the French are very snobbish about lineage and the fact that they elected what to them must amount to a foreigner speaks volumes) and he wanted the French citizenry to work more. Now, we could all get used to 35 hour work weeks, but what is the reason that we in America work an average of 52 hours per week ... to make more money of course. Sarkozy proposed that people wouldn't be taxed on the over-time hours that they worked. This struck a chord with most of the French people (who are some of the most taxed individuals in the world). Sarkozy also vowed to crack down on rioters and hooligans that were terrorizing the Paris streets at night. He also pledged to re-build relationships with the United States. These two things solidified his position in Paris, and in the French countryside (where people still remember the help they received from the US during two world wars). At this point, he and his opponent were probably neck and neck.

The tipping point in the election was probably a mistake made by Segolene Royal. She predicted that if Sarkozy won the election, there would be rioting in the streets of Paris ... BAD MOVE ... this put her in the camp of the rioters and Sarkozy in the camp of the majority of French citizens who are law abiding. As I said before ... Bad Move (fatal).

So once again we can enjoy French Fries, and put Freedom fries to rest (stupid name but it served its' purpose).

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