The president – candidate for reelection – Nicolas Sarkozy held in Nice, one of his strongholds, the last “public meeting” of his electoral campaign before the first round of the 2012 Presidential election, which is taking place tomorrow.
The menu was one for grand occasions: an introduction by Christian Estrosi, in great form and a bold speaker like a Danton; a Hollywood-like scenography (which does not match the sober image of the candidate of the people, but unfortunately, political spectacle has its demands); accompanied by a group of national barons (we will not name them, but they are always the same ones seen each time on television) and local officials eager to show themselves; a parade of the returning Rama Yade and, of course, the inevitable Carla.
A crowd of activists (10,000 to 12,000 according to the organizers) from all over the PACA region was there to listen to and support their favorite. The atmosphere was passionate but without excess.
Nicolas Sarkozy played his part without weakness but without the fervor he is known for (is nervous tension and physical fatigue starting to show some traces?).
He wanted to explain his policy rather than attack his opponents. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t as incisive as on other occasions. Nicolas Sarkozy gives his best when he attacks, as we know, in pedagogy, he is not as charismatic.
Naturally, he advocated for the gathering of those who want a “strong France,” which is his slogan in this electoral campaign. “The French cannot afford mistakes for the future of our country,” he said, stirring the enthusiasm of his supporters.
The occasion was appropriate to highlight some themes of his program, particularly those Nicolas Sarkozy calls “rights but also duties.” Starting with the “new social model,” namely a system of continuous training so that everyone is better adapted to the constraints of an increasingly difficult labor market, but… with the obligation to accept the job offer presented.
More controversially, but knowing the outgoing president’s obligation to address the part of the electorate more sensitive to Marine’s sirens, the strategy concerning immigration. Here, President Sarkozy transformed into a Fregoli to sometimes say one thing and other times its opposite: how to claim at the same time for France the role of a land of asylum and respect and tolerance and simultaneously claim to apply a policy focused on immigration only for those who, before arriving in France, already know the French language and the values of the Republic???
And that, not already to make immigration practically impossible (at least in legal forms) but more suavely to be able to receive them with more dignity!!!
On the same wavelength, the problem of Europe that Nicolas Sarkozy defined as a common project for peace through the humanist way but which cruelly lacks its identity reference: the Christian roots.
The candidate returned to the need to integrate community agreements with a revival of nationalism: The recall of the values of the French nation, the reestablishment of physical borders (unilateral decision within a year if the European Union does not provide satisfactory answers),
Finally, and this was no surprise, Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his unwavering determination to believe in “his” victory.
A first response will come tomorrow at the polls when activists’ enthusiasm will give way to the choices of voters.
