M2RB:
No, nothing at all
I don't regret anything at all
Nor the good that was given me
Nor the evil.
I don't regret anything at all
Nor the good that was given me
Nor the evil.
They're all the same
No, nothing at all
I don't regret anything at all
Because my life
Because my joys
Today, they all begin with you...and Obama gone!
No, nothing at all
I don't regret anything at all
Because my life
Because my joys
Today, they all begin with you...and Obama gone!
By Paul Roderick Gregory, Forbes
French voters went to the polls today to winnow a ten-candidate presidential field down to the “right-of-center” incumbent (Nicolas Sarkozy)
and his socialist challenger (Francois Hollande). The two will face
each other in a runoff election on May 6. A Sarkozy loss would be the
first of an incumbent French president in thirty years. It would
threaten the German-French sponsored European Union rescue package. It
is no surprise that Germany’s Angela Merkel openly supported Sarkozy’s candidacy.
The French election previews the U.S. November election contest between incumbent Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney in the following four ways:
1). Both Obama and Hollande offer almost identical leftist platforms (details on this below).
2) The bland challengers (Hollande and Romney) ignite electoral
passions less than their more colorful opponents (playboy Sarkozy with
his celebrity wife and Obama, the first black president).
3) The sorry state of the economy gives both challengers a hefty leg-up.
4) The French and American elections are foreshadowed by electoral
disasters for the incumbent party in off-year races in 2010 and 2011. In
both, the incumbent party lost long-held majorities in one house of
Congress or parliament.
Whereas the outcome of the U.S. election is currently too close to
call, opinion polls show the French socialist candidate poised to win in
the run off. As the odds tip increasingly in favor of a Hollande
victory, the risk premium on French bonds will rise. It is no secret
that the investment community views a Hollande victory a threat to
France’s solvency. It is too early to count Sarkozy out. The unexpected
strong showing of the far right candidate give him reason to hope, for
he should attract her voters.
A victory of France’s socialist candidate Hollande will not translate
into electoral success for his American soul mate, Obama, for three
reasons:
First, Hollande’s socialist platform will not be the factor that
pushes him across the winner’s line. Rather Sarkozy bears the
intolerable burden of a disastrous economy. In the U.S., incumbent Obama
is similarly saddled with blame for the miserable economic performance
of the last three years.
Second, the difference in French and American electorates works to
Obama’s disadvantage. Whereas Hollande’s socialism appeals to France’s
significant left-wing constituency, Obama’s leftist program will turn
off American voters, who dislike socialism, no matter how well it is
disguised or attention diverted from it by peripheral issues.
Third, Hollande and Obama both appeal to disaffected voters, ethnic
minorities, welfare recipients, union members, public employees, and low
skilled workers. In France, there may be enough of them. In America,
there are probably not enough for an electoral victory.
In a side-by-side comparison, it is difficult to differentiate Obama’s from Hollande’s electoral platform. Specifically, they both favor:
1) Sacrificing debt reduction in favor of stimulus to promote economic recovery.
2) Dealing with deficits through tax increases rather than spending
cuts. Both believe the “rich” are under-taxed. Hollande’s tax increases
on the rich are higher than Obama’s. Hollande wants a 75 percent rate on
those earning over 1 million Euros (about $1.3 million) and 45 percent
on those earning over 150,000 Euros ($200,000). Notably, both define the
“rich” at similar levels of income ($200,000 -$250,000). Obama might
like to “soak the rich” more but knows that Hollande-like rates cannot
fly politically in the United States.
3) Eliminating lower tax rates on investment income like capital
gains and dividends. Both view lower tax rates for investment and risk
taking, not as pro-growth measures, but as allowing the rich to escape
paying their “fair share.”
4) Hiring more public workers. Hollande calls for hiring
60,000 more educators, one thousand more police every year, and creating
150,000 state-aided jobs. Obama’s campaign warns against cuts in public
service jobs, forced by Republican cutting-to-the-bone budgets.
5) Protecting the welfare state. Hollande proposes to keep the French
retirement age at sixty and otherwise make no changes in France’s
generous entitlement programs. Obama opposes Republican proposals to
rationalize Medicare by turning it into insurance grants. Both fail to
explain how they plan to pay for current entitlements other than to
suggest taxing the rich.
6) Creating a public infrastructure bank to finance new
infrastructure projects from state funds. They both would like to use
infrastructure spending as a politically-saleable stimulus program,
irrespective of the budget deficits it causes.
7) Fighting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,
gender, or race. In France’s case, the race to be protected is Muslim
minorities, who are French citizens or legal residents. In the US, it
is Hispanics, who have entered the country illegally.
8) Cutting taxes on small businesses and provide preferences for
businesses that return jobs to the home country. For both, small
businesses are good, big businesses are bad.
9) Reducing the use of out-of-favor sources of energy. In France it
is nuclear energy; in the US it is coal or, more broadly, carbon-based
energy.
10) Campaigning against big finance. In the U.S., it is Wall Street. In France, it is big banks.
11) Cutting executive pay of the greedy captains of industry and
finance. Hollande proposes to limit executive pay to twenty times the
average wage, which would equal about $400,000 per year. Hollande’s
figure is close to the $500,000 executive pay cap that Obama proposed for companies receiving federal assistance.
A Google search
confirms that the U.S. media has largely ignored the striking overlap
between Democrat Obama’s and Socialist Hollande’s electoral platforms.
Today’s New York Times indirectly lets the cat out of the bag.
In its In France, Using Lessons from Obama’s Election Campaign, the Times
reveals that Obama loyalists have been working behind the scenes to
teach French socialists community-organizer techniques from Obama’s 2008
campaign. They are showing their French socialist counterparts how to
turn out left-leaning voters, who are usually disinclined to vote.
Actions speak louder than words. Obama’s community organizers understand
that the French socialists are their ideological soul mates.
The news blackout on the overlaps between Obama’s and Hollande’s
platforms is no mystery. Sixty percent of Americans react negatively to
the term “socialism.” The Obama campaign must conceal that it is
offering the same electoral program as Europe’s weightiest left-wing
party. This insight would raise the uncomfortable issue of Is President Obama Truly a Socialist?
Democrat strategists must find diversions, such as the Republican war
on women or the personal wealth of Romney, to keep this question out of
electoral discourse.
Both Obama and Hollande are socialists of the European reform Marxist
variety. In France, the socialist label has a long and proud tradition
among intellectuals, union members, and beneficiaries of the welfare
state. If Romney succeeds in pinning the socialist label on Obama,
Obama’s chances of re-election would be slim.
Paul Roderick Gregory’s latest book, ”Politics, Murder, and Love
in Stalin’s Kremlin: The Story of Nikolai Bukharin and Anna Larina, ”
can be found at amazon.com.
Related Reading
Is President Obama Truly A Socialist?
French Socialists Test Ride Obama Platform
Is It Within Bounds To Ask: Is Obama A Socialist?
Non Je Ne Regrette Rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal; tout ça m'est bien éga!
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
C'est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé!
Avec mes souvenirs
J'ai allumé le feu
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux!
Balayées les amours
Et tous leurs trémolos
Balayés pour toujours
Je repars à zéro
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal; tout ça m'est bien égal!
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Car ma vie, car mes joies
Aujourd'hui, ça commence avec toi
No, I Regret Nothing
No, nothing at all
No, I don't regret anything at all
Nor the good that was given me
Nor the evil. They're all the same
No, nothing at all
I don't regret anything at all
It's all paid for, wiped out, and forgotten
And I don't care for what's gone by
With my memories
I've lit a fire
My sorrows, my pleasures
I don't need them anymore
My romances wiped out
With the tremblings they braught
Wiped out forever
I set out once more from zero
No, nothing at all
I don't regret anything at all
Nor the good that was given me
Nor the evil.
They're all the same
No, nothing at all
I don't regret anything at all
Because my life
Because my joys
Today, they all begin with you!
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