The President and the Newspaperwoman

September 5, 2014

     Certainly anyone interested in France knows Valerie Trierweiler's book, Merci Pour Ce Moment (Thank You For This Moment) has upended the best-laid plans of President François Hollande and his government.  Trierweiler was able to keep the book under wraps until a publication date which arrived at the worst possible moment for her ex-lover: at the beginning of September, the precise moment when political life is supposed to begin in earnest, after the summer holiday.

     It would not be an exaggeration to say that the revelations of the book --among them, that Hollande does not really like the workers --les sans dents (the toothless ones), Trierweiler says he calls them-- have been devastating Hollande in public opinion polls.  He is now hovering at a 13% approval rate, and there is talk that he will descend still further by next week.  At a NATO meeting this morning, Hollande addressed reporters' questions about the book's effect on his standings by saying he was halfway through his presidency and would continue to the end.

     The dilemma Hollande faces is that the allegation that Hollande is more inclined to enjoy the company of the financially successful than that of the typical Socialist Party voter, cuts deeply for several reasons: first, Hollande is trying to set France on a more competitive course, which political opponents in his own party describe as a program of unconscionable "austerity".  If you believe what Trierweiler has written, it is not too far a stretch to conclude that Hollande is indeed insensitive to the hardships the measures he seeks political support for impose on his core voters.

     Second, and perhaps more tellingly, Trierweiler is an accomplished journalist, whatever anyone thinks of her way of settling the score with her ex-lover.  Bill Clinton had, perhaps, the good sense to be promiscuously adulterous, and with women for the most part not in Trierweiler's league.  For that reason, until Monica Lewinsky took Linda Tripp into her confidence, whatever allegations they made were always batted away easily.  In contrast, Trierweiler --a possessive, jealous, hard woman with a brain--  followed to the letter the advice of a well-known French proverb:

     La revanche est un plat qu'on mange froid.

     --Revenge is a dish best eaten cold.

     Meanwhile, Manuel Valls must be having a bad case of le mal de mer.

     The Prime Minister's ratings are falling in tandem with those of the President, as the ship of state tries to move forward in heavy seas.  The frondeurs --the extreme left wing of the Socialist Party-- are stirred up and disinclined to follow the party line set by Hollande.  There will be a Presidential press conference in a few days and a vote on Manuel Valls' new government in the Assemblée Nationale on September 16 which could be decisive for the future of Hollande's presidency.  There is talk of a resignation, but Hollande has no intention of leaving in mid-term.

     Nevertheless he grows more isolated each day, as the book has become a political event.  The first printing has sold out and another printing, of 300,000 copies is making its way into the bookstores in the next few days to meet the demand from the waiting lists in bookstores throughout the country.

     During his presidential campaign, François Hollande was at pains to distinguish himself from his rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that he would be a "normal" president. Pertinently, a man exiting Galeries Lafayette in Paris with three copies of Trierweiler's book under his arm, responded to a reporter's question as to what motivated the purchase of multiple copies by replying:

     One copy is for a Socialist friend, another copy is for another friend on the Left, and one copy is for me.  I bought the books for my friends so they would have the chance to know better what a "normal" presidency is like!