After what was undoubtedly a grueling eight or so hours of deliberation (about four on Monday morning and another four on Tuesday after lunch…), easily enough time for thorough investigation of the many instances of voter fraud that had been reported nationwide, a specially convened council declared Martine Aubry the First Secretary of the socialist party.
Smelled awfully putschy to a lot of us…
But our Ségolène took it in stride. Because that’s what she does. She takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Ségo promised not to abandon the 50% (or more, but we’ll never know for sure now, will we?) of registered socialists who voted for her.
Many were afraid this deep rift might mean the party would split in two, which explains one of the first things out of Aubry’s mouth after being anointed:
I think that today, for the sake of France, no socialist should leave. I told Ségolène that in the teams that we will form, her friends will have a seat. I will make propositions in the next days, but I will also listen to her propositions too.
Have no fear, Martine (or maybe be afraid, be very afraid…). Ségo’s not going to stomp off and take her half of the socialists with her. She doesn’t have a problem with megalomania (one of the many nasty things her detractors accuse her of). For her, it’s just a question of if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.
You haven’t seen the last of her yet.
You see, Ségo actually is a team player who cares about the people and her party much more than she does about political games. You can tell by what she said upon learning of the decision that had been handed down from on high:
We have to unite today, we have to get together. I want to tell you that all of our energy will go towards the Socialist Party’s transformation. We have so much to do, and maybe to catch up on because the French have undoubtedly been judging us very harshly in the past few weeks and we have to have the courage to make up for the wasted time.
So she’s gonna stick around. She’ll be a big ol’ piece of bubble gum on the floor every time those Elephants take a step.
Give ‘em hell, girlie.
Quite a different atmosphere compared to Belgium, were the socialists were totally decimated in the Dutch speaking North.
Hi Peter.
Yeah, I get the impression your right is a little stronger there than here. Am I right?
In any case, the right doesn’t have to destroy the socialists here, they’re doing a great job of it themselves.
Basically, Belgium has been quite “right wing” ever since its conception Pam.
When we seceded in 1830 from the Netherlands
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belgium)
[Napoleon was defeated in 1815, but the French speaking 1800-era Belgian bourgeoisie hated the Dutch speaking King William I of the Netherlands),
we all basically became right-wing catholics,
a party that has been molding and shaping Belgium ever since.
Did you know Belgian’s right wing is kept down by a “cordon sanitaire” that effectively keeps them away from gaining any real power?
As for the Belgian socialist (mainly controlling Southern Wallonia): they built a kingdom of their own, headed by the president of the corruption-plagued PS Belge.
France is obviously a united republic without the “fake country” issues Belgium is suffering from.
Sarko often makes me laugh (in a bitter sort of way): doesn’t he show all the hallmarks of a “small” (physically) male with personality issues?
Anyway, when the economy goes down, there is a generalized tendency to behave in a more “our country first” sort of way that transcends party lines.