Partners and Pure-Breds

On April 22 French voters go to the polls for the first round of the 2007 presidential election, with the final round two weeks later. In NRO, Denis Boyles takes a sardonic look at what he calls “The Villepin Effect”:

The most likely outcome, at least at the end of this week, appears to be a Sarkozy-Bayrou match-up in the final round of voting in May. That’s an interesting prospect for two reasons: First, it will demonstrate yet again the irrelevance of any modern political party with pretensions to “socialism” as a guiding economic and political theory. But more important for France, it will be a contest between two candidates who are not énarques—members of the odious, self-serving, pure-bred political élite who have dominated French politics since World War II. Royal is an énarque, as is her “partner,” François Hollande, the leader of the French Socialist party. A defeat of the candidate representing the two most destructive forces in modern French politics will be a victory for the French, no matter who wins.

(hat tip: LN)