François Hollande Defeats Nicolas Sarkozy

[Angry Citizen]

World News: France election: François Hollande defeats Nicolas Sarkozy to become president - thestar.com

With 51.7 per cent support, French voters elected socialist candidate François Hollande as president Sunday. The vote makes France the first euro-zone country to elect a left-leaning leader since the currency’s crisis started in 2009.
The new president will head to Berlin shortly after being sworn in May 15 to challenge Germany’s focus on austerity policies and press new ideas for stimulating growth.

This is huge. Germany and France have been pushing failed austerity packages onto the rest of the European Union for years now. This election is a referendum against that. France will now pose an ideological challenge to Angela Merkel's Germany.

I believe this is the harbinger of doom for the right wing malaise that has gripped the world since Reagan and Thatcher. The signs are all over the place. France elects Hollande. Greece's far left garnered a huge number of votes. Even Germany had a small regional election that put the Greens, Social Democrats, and the new left-leaning Pirate Party into power. The Occupy movement has been resurgent since the winter lull. There is widespread outrage against the Condem coalition in the UK. Scotland elected the left-wing SNP into a majority government. Labor unions are on the march again. And Barack Obama has carefully steered the country's discourse into one of economic fairness. Put simply, we are about to witness the birth of a new left-leaning political era not seen since the World War II era, closing the chapter on the last thirty years.

[Senor Hoint]

Condem coalition

Haha! It sounds like "condom!"

Seriously though, this is great news. I would love if your larger point was right, too, but I'll hold my breath. Many observers thought that world revolution was inevitable in the years leading up to World War I. They sure got a surprise.

[Yarn]

Hollande won by a much smaller margin than expected, the far right candidate did suprisingly well, and Sarkozy lost primarily because he presided over a horrible economy primarily because of the 2008 financial crisis.

What Europe's doing isn't working, and a compelling argument can be made that austerity has a lot to do with this because higher taxes, less borrowing, and lower spending constrict the money supply, redirect money from productive enterprise, and shrink the public sector all at the same time thus harming the economy and eliciting positive feedback effects as a result of the lost revenue inciting even more austerity.

Germany in turn is being hypocritical because while it demands austerity abroad it is indulging in stimulus domestically.

However, with Sarkozy and Hollande I can't help but wonder whether Sarkozy's loss has more to do with the bad luck of being president when the crisis hit than it does with his actual handling of it. There is no magic bullets, and any head of state without them was going to become far less popular no matter what he or she did.

As for whether Hollande's election marks a giant step towards Scandanavian-style social democracy in France, that is possible, but since the socialists have won before without achieving this, I wouldn't hold my breathe.

[The Decider]

Yarn is right. Sarkozy's narrow defeat is hardly a ringing endorsement of Scandinavian style socialism. The election seemed more of a referendum on Sarkozy than support for Hollande's socialist program.

Hollande's election has one interesting implication.

For the first time in recent French history, a French president openly questions the long-term reliance on nuclear power. Hollande supports a gradual downsizing of the nation's nuclear power dependancy, and his most prominent socialist supporter and likely Prime Minister, Martine Aubry, has called for a complete phasing out of nuclear energy within 30 years. Certainly Aubry's plan is not feasible, but it signifies a sea change in one of the world's staunchest defenders of nuclear energy.

http://www.refer.eu.com/posts/593/wi...ntial-election

[barts]

What we do know is that the right wing neoliberalism experiment failed, and spectacularly. The promises about free markets, unfettered financial sectors, and globalization haven't materialized for the average voter in France. It's not surprising that voters have said enough is enough.

[Darklordabc]

I believe this is the harbinger of doom for the right wing malaise that has gripped the world since Reagan and Thatcher.

This is horrible news... but if you think this is some kind of cure for the rise of right-wing extremism, I think your underestimating how serious this is for the right. Its exactly this kind of capitulation by our leaders which is fueling the rage. And If France continues its demographic decline into Muslims and other non-white immigrations, with the inevitable societal decline that always follows, its going to take a lot more then an election to stop the 'right wing' from fighting back.
Robert Spencer describes this sad event better then I could:

With Francois Hollande as president, Muslims will be able to import even more Muslims and have even higher social benefits -- that in turn will attract even more Muslims that can (vote for) vote for even more Socialists. 95 percent of Muslims in France vote for the socialists. The socialists' strategy is clear: burden your own countries with weak immigrants from a less civilized culture in order to secure your own reelection. Invite people to our part of the world who have many children and are only able to manage few kinds of jobs, and who will therefore always vote for the Left.

[Angry Citizen]

Muslims make up less than one in twenty French. They're not in much danger. Please take your racism elsewhere; it's not needed here.

[Darklordabc]

Muslims make up less than one in twenty French. They're not in much danger. Please take your racism elsewhere; it's not needed here.

Lol racism, sure.

[JimmyNic]

I believe this is the harbinger of doom for the right wing malaise that has gripped the world since Reagan and Thatcher.

Put simply, we are about to witness the birth of a new left-leaning political era not seen since the World War II era, closing the chapter on the last thirty years.

I cannot speak for the rest of the world, but Britain has been enthralled by the Left ever since Thatcher took office. And before you say Thatcher was right wing, consider that she sought integration into the EU until the last year of her time in office (which was one of the reasons her party mutinied). That is not a right wing policy, and our continued membership in the EU is arguably the most important policy we've had in the last 30 years. If indeed we are about to see a further push leftwards this is not good news.

Muslims make up less than one in twenty French. They're not in much danger. Please take your racism elsewhere; it's not needed here.

Impressive that darklord managed to be racist to a demographic that cannot be considered a racial group. The man has argumentative powers that defy definition. I think the appropriate liberal slur you are looking for is "Islamophobia".

[Angry Citizen]

I cannot speak for the rest of the world, but Britain has been enthralled by the Left ever since Thatcher took office.

Um. No. There IS NO LEFT in Britain these days, except minor and/or regional parties. Labour, once the bastion of the left, is a joke.

[Trojan_Ripper]

Doesn’t it all come down to balancing a budget? Hell, it would be nice if the United States could even PASS one. Phiffitt

Isn’t it something that should have been simple all along? Instead of living day to day with the proclamation of “we can’t be broke, we still have checks left and a printing press”….but then we find out that the bad check won’t even cover the daily interest on our loans? Hmmm. Who can teach us what to do?

How long would your business last if you used such ignorant accounting?

But to the OP…. does Germany believe in austerity?
How does their economy rank with other European nations?
How long will it take France to balance their budget with the incoming administration? What will cure their economic problems and why?

Yes barts,

It's not surprising that voters have said enough is enough

.
Could this be because they are wanting “More and More”?

[Angry Citizen]

Isn’t it something that should have been simple all along?

Yes, if conservatives hadn't decided tax cuts and wars were more important than balanced budgets. You fail to remember that we lived for four decades with an intact welfare state with responsible finances. Then your man Reagan came along and destroyed it.

But to the OP…. does Germany believe in austerity?

Yes.

How does their economy rank with other European nations?

Better than most. However, this misses the point. Germany's economy is amazing because it takes advantage of the European Union's shared currency system in conjunction with its export-oriented economy. Norway and Sweden don't believe in austerity at all, and have never needed austerity to begin with, and their economy is also incredibly robust - more robust than the Germans', I would suggest.

How long will it take France to balance their budget with the incoming administration?

The rhetoric says 2017, same as Sarkozy planned.

What will cure their economic problems and why?

More socialism, less austerity. Why? Because austerity doesn't work. Simple as that.