madame la presidente

Last night, primaries took place in France where Socialist Party members determined their candidate for the presidential election, about six months away. In a blast-from-the-past kind of event, a former finance and economics minister ran against a former prime minister and a former education minister. And no, the point was not to elect a former president or to take France back to the glory of the 70s.

Over the last half year, the candidates stressed the importance of looking forward, of taking courageous decisions, and of making France fit for the futures. At first glance, this is incongruous with this trio of candidates. At a second glance, with knowledge of the primary results, there might be hope for the Socialists.

A full 60% of the vote fell to Ségolène Royal, the most unorthodox of the candidates. This 53-year-old unmarried mother of four came out of nowhere about a year ago. She wasn't part of the hierarchy, and the party bosses (admiringly called elephants here) first ignored her coming to popularity and then ridiculed her with proudly presented chauvinistic idiocy. Now she has driven her point home. She can connect with voters better than the other two candidates combined.

The problem is that connecting with voters is very different from doing what's right for a country. She must work hard to transition from working for her popularity to working for her country. The next half year will show if there is more substance than show. A show might suffice to round up a pair of elephants, but it won't be enough to win a presidency.