Sarkozy

You've got love him! 15 million French people tuned in to his interview last Thursday. Okay, the journalists were handpicked, but they asked him some difficult questions ,and he had an answer to everyone. Okay, he probably scripted the whole thing, but he did look good. The so called opposition is so busy writing bitchy books about each other that Sarkozy has an easy ride.
This interview was supposed to address the worries of those who took to the streets the week before. Sarkozy was confident and promised to make the changes France needs. The so called general strike was less general than predicted, the usual suspects were there, teachers and railway workers. However, these groups strike so regularly nobody really takes any notice anymore. And what was this strike about? The global economic crisis! Note the word global, just what they thought they would achieve by striking against a global phenomenon is debatable. Okay, they are worried, well we're all worried. Okay, money is being handed out. But what do they expect, a brown envelope of cash through their letterboxes! Sarkozy has proposed a number of public works; TGV lines, nuclear powerstations, which will create jobs. The money is not directly in our pockets but it will filter down.
What really angers the trade unions here in France, is his reform of the public sector, which effects their members. But it's not the public sector who will be hit the hardest in this recession, it's the private sector workers who didn't strike. Those working in manufacturing who know the score. I like to think of them as the silent majority who voted for Sarkozy, and who still have confidence in him in absence of any realistic alternative. It's not time for strikes, it's time to hunker down and weather out the storm. Sarkozy may not be perfect but he's the best hope the French have today.