French presidential election inter-round :
The big item of discussion in week 1 was "radical left" Mélenchon not outright endorsing Macron (he kicked off the matter to an inner debate in his movement). I'm sparing you the details because really the rough outline of that debate is just the same as the whole "BernieBros voting Trump" / "Far left is actually the closest to the far right" / "Won't someone think of the Republic
" and we're all tired of that.
Besides that whole debate was overshadowed this Friday when the right wing sovereignist "maverick" & biggest of the small candidates (or vice versa) Nicolas Dupont Aignan actually endorsed Marine Le Pen after talks for a purpoted negociated platform and government position in case of a win. In absolute it's not too surprising as his position was always between the mainstream and the far right (and containment is bound to decay as years go by), but as a self-avowed Gaullist (of the purest kind, by his own judgement) it's kind of messy to reach so gleefully for the hand of the heirs of German-occupied France. There's been plenty of high profile departures from his party in the following day and scorn from the mainstream right, but he claims to have had "600 new members" (
of the head clean shaven kind ?). Short-term he's a pariah but I guess he's betting that it will pay off dividends in the future (and maybe as soon as the National Assembly elections coming) if and when the mainstream right will finally give in to lucrative alliances with neo-fascists.
Otherwise it's funny that an election so dominated by new faces and old parties getting kicked in the nuts should be won by the closest thing to a continuity candidate for the current (unpopular) government.
Watched one of the economists (From the Collège de France, so not even the half of a distinguished mentally-challenged fellow type) supporting Macron on TV. He said some interesting and decent stuff but the thing that bothered me is that he explained that Macron liberalism was big on more / better "Dialogue social" (= More things negociated by employee unions, company owners and institutions instead of top down laws from the state) but a couple minutes later defended that Macron will reform huge chunks of the labor market by decree (or "executive orders") ASAP once he is in office.
Otherwise : Macron and Le Pen both went to see the workers of whatever factory is in strike and doing headlines at this point (a classic of the last campaign sprint), namely a Whirpool factory in Amiens. Le Pen went on a small fishing boat with a real worker of real France getting up really early. Macron went to the Shoah Memorial and a couple of others similar important symbols* (Le Pen didn't went to it, strangely enough. Maybe she was visiting a former Stalag in memory of all those that died by falling down the guard tower ?).
The big traditional debate is on May 3. It will be animated by less famous journalists that usual. Not important but not being subjected by the usual slimy TV anchors is a blessing. EDIT : Well reading about it, the public authority was concerned that the expected duo of moderators was all-male and ultimately everyone ended up agreeing on the two heads of the domestic politics office on their respective channels.
Macron being an horrible public speaker is a consensus. Supposedly he's much more persuasive & convincing in negociations and one-on-ones. I sure hope so...
* To note, Macron went to a ceremony for the memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide on a monument deidcated to Father Komitas, a member of the church and music composer who died in France while being exiled.
Though it has been more widely known and talked about in France, recognizing those events are still a hot topic for Turkish authorities. It's a little bit reassuring to me that Macron is willing to pay the political price of standing up for pas & present victims of opression.
