Sarkozy: "Francois Hollande is the president of France and he must be respected." - BBC

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17975660

Socialist Francois Hollande has been elected as France's new president.

He got about 52% of votes in Sunday's run-off, according to early projections, against 48% for centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.

Mr Sarkozy has admitted defeat, saying: "Francois Hollande is the president of France and he must be respected."

Analysts say the vote has wide implications for the whole eurozone. Mr Hollande has vowed to rework a deal on government debt in member countries.

Exuberant Hollande supporters have already converged on Place de la Bastille in Paris - a traditional rallying point of the Left - to celebrate.

[WillyT]

1. K & R !!!

[geek tragedy]

2. Imagine if Republicans talked this way about Obama. nt

[Lizzie Poppet]

11. No kidding!

Sarkozy, for all that I've often disagreed with many of his polices, had never seemed to have anything but the best interests of France as his priority. Can the same be said about the GOP and America's best interests? I think not...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. They will..but, they'll look like they're giving birth to a watermelon when they do.

[Jack Rabbit]

22. Romney will in his concession speech in November

The next day, Rush Windbag will excoriate Romney for being so meek, but by then no one will be listening to Rush Windbag.

[Harmony Blue]

3. The tide is slowly turning again

momentum is shifting back to progressive values once more.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. The same is happening in Greece too. The people have had enough of neo-con/neo-lib robbery.

[HiPointDem]

4. and we'll see if he changes course or turns into a disappointment like mitterand.

[DFW]

27. I'm in France once a week for work and speak the language fluently

As for what you said a disappointment: don't doubt it for a second. Hollande is about as solid as Romney on positions.

[HiPointDem]

28. just to be sure, you're saying you think he *will* be a disappointment?

[DFW]

30. Fairly sure, yes

Always ready for a pleasant surprise, but I've known France for 40 years now, and
am well prepared for the opposite.

[DevonRex]

6. K&R.

Sea change?

[malaise]

7. I'm watching on BBC International

Fugg off neo-liberals.

It's over. Austerity for the bankers! Austerity for the robber barons!!!

[Seedersandleechers]

10. Link Please?

[malaise]

12. Here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17958367

[Gregorian]

14. Thanks! BBC America is just playing shit Americans want to see. I needed this.

[malaise]

18. Not one US network is covering this

Why am I surprised?

[Gregorian]

19. Hey, what do you know, I am an American.

I almost forgot. We are in a minority.

[Tanelorn]

25. They are not playing this because it is about the French.

Remember freedom fries and French speaking presidential candidates.

[Seedersandleechers]

17. Thanks.....

[xchrom]

8. ...

VIVA MARSEILLAISS

[SunSeeker]

26. That was great! Thanks! nt

[frazzled]

9. Allons enfants de la Patrie!

Le jour de gloire est arrivé!

[Lionessa]

15. Time will tell if this is good or not. Certainly a change from the status quo and the extreme

austerity is a good start. However, the idea that this could trash the Eurozone I'm concerned with. Yeah, yeah, I know that the Eurozone as it is run by Sarkosy and Merkel as well as the ECB's demands isn't at all good. My hope is that before the entire zone falls apart with the free border travel and those issues, more of the Eurozone countries will revolt against their conservative, austerity only leaders across the board to bring sanity to the entire zone rather than country by country which seems like a huge set back. We have the same issue here I guess with the recent ruling here that says states can make their own immigration rules regardless of the federal rules, which just seems to me like the beginning of a really big problem which will encourage bigotry and racism rather than focusing on the austerity for the masses as the real problem.

[kenny blankenship]

21. Seeing as how Sarko was pledging to withdraw from the Shengen Agreement Area

-that is the 26 country zone of Europe in which citizens of member states can travel freely without border controls- his defeat should count as an unqualified positive .

[DFW]

29. I don't blame him for wanting to withdraw from Schengen.

I live in the Schengen area. It WOULD have been a good idea IF the countries on Schengen borders
would keep their word on exterior borders. As it is, countries like Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands,
Even now Switzerland are overrrun with untraceable hoardes of organized crime bands from Serbia,
Albania, Romania and Bulgaria. We catch some of them, but probably 90% go undetected, and when
they do get caught, they fall under the rather lenient justice systems of the countries where they
commit their crimes, and are often free within hours. This enrages the local populations and is pure
nourishment for extremist rightist parties that feed on the frustration and love every minute of it.
I do not want to see a resurgence of the Vlaamse Blok, German neo-Nazis, or another French election
whereLe Pen's party can get nearly 20% in the first round. When THAT happens, something is wrong.

[kenny blankenship]

32. I was responding to someone who expressed concern about the loss of free travel

as a possible implication of the French Presidential election.
If you are worried about the end of open borders, the defeat of a leader who promised or threatened to end them should be good news.

I could be a dick right now and ask you if you also support Sarkozy's roundup of Roma - commonly known in English as "Gypsies". Ethnic scapegoating of "undesirables" in the land of the Vel d'Hiv and Drancy isn't waiting on the further success of the National Runts, it has already begun. It has also started in Italy under the neofascist P2 ex-President (doh, scratch that - exPrime Minister) Berlusconi with mass fingerprinting and expulsions (city of Verona), and also in Hungary just to mention instances that I know of. And if I was living on the continent, I'm sure I'd be able to point out even more such instances.

Many observers point out the connection between the imposition of austerity across Europe and Sarkozy's "closed borders" intentions. Knowing he is (or was) about to create millions of economic refugees, it is a logical step for him to put up the barbed wire and sentry huts to keep them out.

[Gregorian]

16. Yay!

[malaise]

20. Enjoy this delish article

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/06/french-elections-2012-nicolas-sarkozy-failure?intcmp=239
<snip>
Sarkozy is the 11th European leader to be ejected since the economic crisis. But the irony is that he was not booted out directly because of it. The eurozone crisis was paradoxically one of the only ways he could have won the election, selling himself as Super Sarko, an international firefighter and problem-solver, protecting France. That was the message of his election posters which featured his portrait against the sea: Captain Courage in a storm. But instead of vaunting his crisis-busting skills or even leadership in the intervention in Libya, he chose to pour his energies into veering hard-right in a crusade against immigration and halal meat, blaming Islam for the troubles in French society, and claiming to protect the Christian roots of Europe. Much of this harked back to his ill-fated far-right flirtations in office, from his controversial ministry of immigration and national identity, which he eventually abandoned, to a speech blaming Roma for crime in France and dismantling their camps.

Sarkozy's courtship of the far right ultimately failed. By bringing the favourite topics of the Front National into the mainstream, namely immigration and fear of Islam, he served only to strengthen its leader, Marine Le Pen. He also dented his own legacy, leaving himself for the time being remembered in French minds not for what he defined as his bullishness in defending France abroad, or for reforms such as lowering the pension age, but for a divisive, stigmatising campaign that even some in his own camp privately felt was repulsive.

Sunday's vote was a personal referendum on Sarkozy. At the start of his mandate, he was briefly the most popular president since Charles de Gaulle; then he plummeted to record lows for four years and festered there. Rejection of the "president of the rich" was not just about his ostentatious vaunting of money – celebrating his 2007 win at a flash restaurant with the nation's richest people and borrowing a millionaire's yacht when he had promised to retreat to a monastery. It was not just about unpresidential manners – sending text messages during an audience with the pope, saying "Sod off, you prat" to a man who refused to shake his hand at an agricultural fair or parading his first public date with Carla Bruni at Disneyland weeks after his high-profile divorce.
-----------------------

[Gregorian]

24. And yet 50% of the vote was against him.

The smoke and mirrors of the magic of conservatism still has not ceased to lure the idiots of the world. Not yet. And until we educate the human race, maybe never.

But still, Yay!

[CanonRay]

23. Vive le France!

[riverbendviewgal]

31. Why Wall Street fears a Socialist French leader

YES!!! VIVA FRANCE

Hollande has said that he would shake things up once he gets in power and would not toe the line with Germany or anyone else. That means anything is on the table, including agreements Sarkozy had carefully worked out with his European counterparts in taming the sovereign debt crisis. In addition, Hollande seems bent on really sticking it to the banks. He is no fan of the City of London and Wall Street and has openly criticized them for the role they played in the financial crisis. "My enemy is not another candidate, it is not a person, it has no face, it is the world of finance," Mr. Hollande said in January. He clearly has an axe to grind, but he may be getting ready to slice off his own hands

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/05/04/french-election-sarkozy-hollande/?iid=HP_Highlight&hpt=hp_t1

[vaberella]

36. Funny you say that...it was just reported he got a personal call from Merkel today. n/t

[RainDog]

33. Vive La France!

congrats to them for overturning another neoliberal. one down, quite a few more to go.

[FSogol]

34. Since I don't follow French politics closely, is Holland really a socialist or merely a

slightly left-of-center-ist the same way the right here considers Obama a socialist?

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. We have a center left, best case

they have a left.

[vaberella]

35. In France Sarkozy...being that I am here. Hollande is greatly respected.

People were celebrating where I live in bumble fuck no where.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. I doubt this is anything close to the

Paris Commune, but perhaps I am wrong. And I'd better not, it did not end well