As expected, Nicolas Sarkozy managed to seize the presidency of the UMP, but the messiah did not perform a miracle.
The former President wanted to put his 2012 defeat behind him and become candidate Sarkozy again, positioning himself as a unifier of his family, shaken by the Bygmalion scandal and the rise of Marine Le Pen’s FN.
Except for the declaration of wanting to change its name, no one really understood the political direction he intended to propose to the party. The campaign meetings and interviews almost entirely portrayed a future presidential candidate, highly critical of his successor yet unchanged: A shrewd professional with confused ideas and changing principles.
Listening to him, it becomes clear that he doesn’t believe in any of what he says; he simply wants to align himself with the people who listen to him. It’s political marketing, turning the citizen into a customer to whom a product must be sold: The candidate himself.
His weapon: the polls, and it’s no coincidence that in his inner circle is the pollster Pierre Giacometti, who tells him which way the wind is blowing. Honestly, there’s more to vision than a few polls!
Additionally, the mystery remains as to how Nicolas Sarkozy will manage a party that greatly needs to be put back on track and its finances cleaned up, while at the same time remaining focused on 2017, especially after endorsing the principle of an open primary in 2016 where Alain Juppé, François Fillon, Xavier Bertrand, and others are waiting for him.
It is indeed difficult to develop a new project for France while handling the rebuilding of the party.
Even though comparisons are always risky, in 2004, the date of his election that was supposed to establish him as Jacques Chirac’s successor, he had obtained 20 more points than this time.
The broad coalition behind their champion, announced by his supporters, did not materialize. On the contrary, the right-wing camp appears rather divided on the “subject.”
A hundred UMP parliamentarians joined the camp of Bruno Le Maire or Hervé Mariton in the battle. The former of the two asserted a national stature and can boast of being the one who emerged stronger from the competition. From now on, he will be a force to reckon with in the political debate. And as the man is ambitious…
In any case, how can one think that his rivals will spare him, especially if he wishes to use the UMP “machine” for his purposes?
Finally, without mentioning the ongoing judicial affairs that could disrupt the scenario, Nicolas Sarkozy has shown throughout the two months of a carefully orchestrated campaign that the image of (false) modernity that characterized his 2007 candidacy is now a dusty memory.
In fact, what we found was a Nicolas Sarkozy delivering the same repetitive, somewhat old-fashioned discourse, full of “me, myself…”. Even Carla Bruni’s smile no longer holds the charm of its early days, having become too stereotypical.
This raises the question of whether, for the right, in its legitimate aspiration to regain presidential power in 2017, Nicolas Sarkozy will be an asset… or a liability!
