Thursday, April 26, 2007

Sang Froid

It's becoming more and more apparent how risky and volatile Ségolène Royal's position really is. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that risk and volatility have become the organizing principles of her strategy. By extending an olive branch to François Bayrou, she hoped to force his hand into pronouncing early, rather than late, between her and Sarkozy.

What she got from Bayrou, instead, was an early non-pronouncement, one that left Bayrou with plenty of room for maneuver, and Royal with plenty of headaches. First from the extreme left, who consider an alliance with Bayrou close to betrayal. And now from elected officials within her own Socialist Party, who resent not having been consulted before the overtures were made.

Royal seems to thrive when her footing seems most precarious, something that use to frighten me about her, but that I now find fascinating. Like the general on the battlefield, oblivious to the hail of bullets raining down on every side, she continues moving forward when everyone around her is either ducking for cover or taking aim at her. 

Right now I'm not sure if she even knows how she'll work her way out of this one. One key, however, is that all the dynamism, all the movement, all the action for the past few days has been coming from her campaign, with the help of Bayrou. So while she might be up on a high-wire with no safety net, at least everyone's watching her. 

Posted by Judah in:  La Presidentielle   

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