Yesterday, I was walking home through a quaint neighborhood of Paris, la Butte aux cailles, when I noticed these posters of Hollande on the wall of this little street, rue de l’Esperance (street of hope in French):
I can’t vote in France but I have been following the elections and if you want to know a bit about it, I recommend reading these two short articles from today’s New York Times. The first one’s called: “Victor Hugo on the ballot” by Robert Zaretsky.
The other one is “Voting for Yesterday in France” by Oliver Guez:
Take a few minutes to read them—they are quite interesting…
On a more cheerful note, there is always hope as long as there is spring and lilacs that remind me of my childhood in Iran…
To read one of my favorite posts about lilacs in Paris go here.
I did read both NYT articles and remembered you today morning –
However I do not much understand French Politics as much as probably USA
Hi Michele,
first time commenting on your blog, I promised I would 🙂
As to the subject, as far as I remember french elections have always been like this, because it’s in the french culture to be in-ward looking, self centered and to think of itself as universal. It might have been the case at some point in a long distant past, but it’s clearly not the case anymore.
But the reason candidates failed almost to confront the hard choices ahead about the economy, has more to do with the fact that there’s only much they can do about it. They virtually don’t matter, simply because they have little impact on the economy, so it’s easier to brag about fears and endless, impossible promises.
But you can say that about the US as well and many other countries.
Love the blog btw.
Take carE.