"Trip planning and thef French Elections "
Rebekah and I went to AAA to get some road maps and arrange for our car rental for our French trip in September. We'll actually pick the car up in Paris and keep it for a couple of weeks. Ian and I will turn it in just before we pick our flight up in Marseille on October 1st. I won't lie. The idea of driving in France makes me more than a little nervous: Aggresive drivers, high speeds, roundabouts and difficulty finding parking spots. I keep telling myself that other tourists rent cars in France and they survive, right? Yeah, I know: Dead people tell no tails.
So the French election will come down to Sarkozy(the conservative) against Royal(Socialist candidate). Sarkozy is the son of a Hungarian Immigrant and strong admirer of the US and Royal is trying to become the first woman to be elected "Presidente de la Republique". After 10 years of Chirac-the last 6 years of NOT seeing eye to eye with George Bush, almost any change would have to be some kind of improvement in political climat between France and the U.S. It's hard to say....one thing for sure: George W Bush maybe the most hated U.S President overseas in my lifetime.(Richard Nixon might be a close second)
I personally don't think Bush is the worst president we have had in my lifetime. It's pretty tough to imagine a worse president that Jimmy Carter-a morally decent guy, who you would not mind teaching your kids Sunday School, but as a Commander in Chief, he was worthless. No spine, made a hash of the Iran Hostage situation. There was a definite malaise in this country. People were ashamed to be American. I know my first trip to France in 1977, when people asked me what I was, I told them I was Canadian.(well, Minnesota is almost in Canada) In later years, when I was a college student in Montpellier, I got into more than few arguements with French Communists. (Who as a political force in France in 2007 are pretty much a non-entity)
The neutral and non committed voters will decide the French election. Statistically, it's a virtual dead heat-there will be no replay of the thumping that happened when French people held their noses and voted for Chirac instead of the reactionary head of the French National Front, Jean-Marie LePen. Time for bead. A` Demain!
