Is Barack Obama in danger of going the way of ill-fated French Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal – who was defeated by another member of an unpopular incumbent conservative party – namely, Nicolas Sarkozy? In this note of caution from a Socialist member of the French Assembly, Mr. Obama is duly warned. From the pages of the French newspaper Liberation, Jean-Jacques Urvoas writes, ‘Perhaps one would permit a Frenchman with informative but unhappy experience to risk offering some advice: In an electorate concerned about the prospect of a recession and pessimistic about the future of the country, it’s important to concretely describe one’s ambition and not merely settle for the rewarding role of being a midwife of ideas.’
By Jean-Jacques Urvoas
Socialist Deputy from Finistère
Translated By Kate Davis
March 3, 2008
France – Liberation – Original Article (French)
The Democratic Party primaries seem strangely familiar. The similarities with the procedure that ended a year and a half ago with the Socialist Party’s nomination of Ségolène Royal WATCH are in fact striking. How can we not compare the trajectory of the senator from Illinois with that of the president of the regional council of Poitou-Charentes [Ségolène Royal]? Like her, he was an outsider long before becoming the “front-runner” in the primaries. And his turn has the same explanation: a massive participation in the primaries.
Like the new members of the Socialist Party, these unexpected voters upset all expectations. Their unforeseen participation sweeps away the demographic, ethnic and social benchmarks that up to now have directed the choice of Democrats. And success goes to the one who appears to incarnate change rather than experience. Even though the programs are not so different, it’s the music that turns out to be essential. Similarly convinced that the election will be won at the center, their speeches were from the outset aimed at those who could be swayed.
By building on the aspiration for “change we can believe in,” Obama has also realized the importance of the game of perception, a determining factor in a vote that has become so emotional. Within the Democratic Party today, as it was yesterday fore the Socialist Party, the nature of the confrontation is transforming to the point of perhaps inducing the same mistakes.
The framework of the primaries has faded to give the impression that the fight for the general election has begun. In the eyes of everyone, to be the nominee in Denver is to win the White House.
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