If he wins, the French will have chosen a man at ease with generalities
JOHN VINOCUR
It was one of those rare political moments when the campaign-screech and repetitive mumbling stopped.
Last week, a French television interviewer asked Franois Hollande, the favourite to win Frances presidential election on Sunday, if he thought there were too many foreigners in France. Simple question, and one central to a campaign where extremists of the right and left won 30 per cent of the votes in a first-round ballot. Yet Hollande would not answer yes or no. He reached for legalisms instead. The interviewer insisted: Deep inside, whats your conviction? Im not a commentator on public life, Hollande replied. I am the next president of France. The polls say so too. And if Hollande wins, the French will have chosen a man at ease with generalities who aspires to be wilful and dignified, a symbol of brotherhood and bringing people together.
But hes not the personification of clarity. As standard-bearer of a programme of change his own watchword Hollande doesnt offer explicit and decisive plans for reforms in French economic and civic life, remains silent about the pain and disruption that would come with any serious structural changes, and relies on the lingering unpopularity of President Nicolas Sarkozy to put the Socialists in office.
His friends say charm and amiability are at the centre of his character. His political enemies argue he is an eternal manoeuvrer, more calculating than courageous. And, indeed, Hollande stepped around any word of criticism for the left-wing extremist Jean-Luc Mlenchon when he compared Sarkozy to Vichys pro-Nazi collaborators.
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