He is a hero of Stendhal but also a man of our time as if Julien Sorel posed for Paris Match. A Stendhal hero who achieved the dream of a generation: taking the Élysée by storm. This week he celebrated two years of his re-election. A man of our time who comes from nowhere except from a virtual world where the princes of the wind are born.
The photo was beautiful on the beach in Biarritz. The candidate was in love. Emmanuel and Brigitte came across a naturist on the sand. The press of the heart had chosen couple of the summer of 2016 for this romance turned marriage which was unlike any other. We were there.
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And the following autumn, and winter, and spring heralded tomorrows that sing on a bed of roses. The newspapers had chosen their favorite. They retained a certain indulgence for him. Emmanuel here, Emmanuel there. Emmanuel Macron rejuvenated the set. François Fillon sank steeply. The press did not reach out to him. Marine Le Pen had no chance. The gentleman on the scooter left the palace without any French person regretting it. A young man in a hurry who was not yet 40 years old succeeded him. The fairies had placed in his cradle some intelligence, some charm, some temperament. Everyone believed it or wanted to believe it. Me, the first. We were there and we are still there. The image imposes the story.
On election days for the presidency of the Republic, the French do not enter a polling station. They enter a church on Christmas Eve. They are waiting for the savior. They hope for the providential man. François Mitterrand played this role in 1981 like Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 and Emmanuel Macron in 2017. Our political DNA is messianic.
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Benalla changed everything
2017 was a honey year. Trump’s reception during the summer confirmed the intuition that the French had made the right choice. Macron radiated. Twelve months without a false note. Then patatras! The Benalla affair! “If they want someone responsible, he is in front of you, they can come and get him”, said the president. Since that day in July 2018, nothing has been the same between the sovereign and his people.
The Mozart of finance has written a requiem that will cost a fortune
Emmanuel Macron became a mystery. This enigma has marked the seven-year term which is ending. The Stradivarius plays horsehair chords. How is it possible ? I do not believe that there is such a difference in the history of the Republic between such great talent and such obvious failures. All that for this ? A bit as if Djokovic had never won a Grand Slam tournament.
His portrait has adorned all town halls in France for seven years. I always ask myself the same questions about him: who is he? What does he want ? What does he think? He dominated all his interlocutors. Marine Le Pen held one round, the Yellow Vests three, the farmers a little more. After ten minutes of interviews, the journalists look at their files. Macron wins his fights by knockout. But what for if not attacking the societal terrain with a law on the end of life or a constitutionalization of abortion which seem derisory in view of the crisis of faith that the country is going through?
I would like to say good things about him, recognize a positive action, highlight a success. Alas! Whichever way I turn, the results are heartbreaking. The Mozart of finance has written a requiem that will cost a fortune. A thousand billion in debt have increased the French debt since 2017. Whatever it costs is what should not be done.
Productivity is decreasing – unheard of under the Fifth Republic! Mandatory contributions remain the highest in Europe. The collapse of the school is evidenced by the PISA rankings. The number of homicides is increasing for the first time since the dawn of time. Insecurity is no longer a feeling. Five million immigrants will have legally entered French soil since 2017 when he leaves the Élysée. Abroad, the president suggests initiatives that no one follows and would like a European federalism that no one wants.
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Communication has replaced decision. Communication has replaced action. The president speaks. “There are people who talk, who talk – until they finally have something to say”, said Sacha Guitry. He speaks, he announces, he tweets, he commemorates, he decorates, he celebrates, he travels, he kisses, he charms, he embraces, he procrastinates more than he acts. He takes a long time to appoint his government as if he were postponing the moment to decide, as if he hated deciding. He names without consistency. He demolishes without building.
The “At the same time” has become a “Everything and its opposite”
Goodbye ENA! Farewell to the great bodies of the State, diplomatic as well as prefectural. In their place a gloubi-boulga which plunges the little gray men into an abyss of perplexity. THE ” At the same time “ became a “Everything and its opposite” like these Ministers of National Education who go in a zig, the other in a zag.
Emmanuel Macron prefers to seduce. We come back to the part of chiaroscuro that animates each life. Why so much energy to please and so little to do? Seduction is not an end in itself. She is the armed arm of conviction. You still need to have a backbone. None of the heads of state of the Fifth Republic escaped the savage analysis of bazaar psychoanalysts. Since 2017, guessing the man to understand the president has become the objective of observers. Nobody got there.
I look at his face from yesterday; I’m looking at today’s one. Emmanuel Macron has changed. Shadow has replaced brilliance. The Élysée accelerates time. The years we spend there count double or triple. Emmanuel Macron has not aged. This is another thing. Julien Sorel got lost between red and black. Perhaps he guesses that he has missed his appointment with History.
The extreme center has lived
The magic has passed. Nobody believes it anymore. Bruno Le Maire distances himself. Gérald Darmanin is silent. Gabriel Attal displays his ambition. Blue words, words we say with our eyes will no longer be enough. The countdown has begun. In three years it will be over. So far, so close! In a democracy, you have to drink the mandate down to the dregs. France’s recovery will wait.
And tomorrow ? Right returns to right. Left returns to left. The extreme center has lived. The suitors are sharpened to inaugurate the chrysanthemums. And the ex-president will leave for Brussels where he will write his memoirs. So much beautiful reasoning, so many beautiful sentences for so little results! Emmanuel Macron is an advertisement against intelligence when it is not accompanied by the most basic common sense. Yes, definitely, all that for that…
