She Has Faith, I Have Faith....

The Presidential Race in France is becoming a manic dash. There is chaos in the Party headquarters as each side tries to check eachg statement as is uttered by the other.
Party members jump ship and ally themselves with an opponent hourly. Sarkozy tries to garner attention LePen style by making outrageous statements that appeal to the basist prejudicial instincts of the common man.
Through all of this, Segolene Royal seems an island of calm serenity. When asked about the polls, she dismisses them with a wave of her hand. She says that things will crystalize for her in the last hours of the campaign and procedes as if she totally believes that she will be the next president of France. Perhaps she is correct. I'm beginning to believe it. After a widening lead in the polls by Nicolas Sarkozy, suddenly, the gap is closing at a rapid pace. Sarkozy is beginning to scare his middle base by his blatant overtures to the Front National to form an alliance. His statements out of nowhere last week about genetic predisposition to homosexuality, pederasty and suicide have left a lot of people scratching their heads, wondering what kind of strategy is this? This is scary talk! Frances' leading astrologer was on a TV this week and said that Sarkozy may win, but if he did, it would mean a period of devastating social upheaval and violence!
Segolene was born in 1953 in Dakar, Senegal into a large family with a military background. Her father did not believe that women should strive for higher education and against his wishes and then to his surprise, she was admitted to the prestigious Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, the school that most successful French politicians have attended. In 1971, she worked as an Au pair in Dublin, then successfully sued her father to have him pay for her education. Her family includes her controversial brother, Gerard, who was a French Secret Service officer who was involved in the plot to blow up the Greenpeace ship, The Rainbow Warrior.
In the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, she was in the same class as the present Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin. In the late 1970's she met Francois Hollande, the present first secretary of The Socialist Party and they became a family, but never married. They have 4 children.
She was recruited by Francois Mitterand in 1982 to become a member of his staff and has been a deputy in the National Assembly for the Deux-Sevres departement since 1988. She won the election to the assemblyy against the odds, upsetting the long standing UMP Deputy. She was Minister of the Environment from 1992 to 1993 and then vice minister of education in 1997 under Lionel Jospin, then vice minister of family and childhood from 2002 to 2003. On March 28, 2004, she was elected President of the Poitou-Charentes region with a large majority of the vote upsetting the UMP prime minister, Raffarins' protege, Elizabeth Morin. A position she retains to this day as well as her deputy office.
On the 16th of November, 2006, Segolene was nominated Socialist party candidate for President in a party wide election throughout France. In February, she unveiled her platform called Desires d'Avenir. Last month there was a falling out with the finance minister of the Party, Eric Besson when she brought in other younger experts which disputed his numbers. The feud became personal and Mr. Besson publicly left the party and wrote a smear book which seems to be fueld by his rancor rather than facts.
Her platform is strong on family values, protecting children focusing on violence and sex on Televison. She advocates a national service to deal with deliquency and has a program to provide housing for the homeless. When she was in the Environmental ministry she passed a number of landmark laws to preserve the environment and preserve the natural regional products. Environmental issues are an important part of her campaign. She has taken a very strong position on womens rights and is very active in the fight against violence inflicted on women in France. She is very strong on gay rights and would legalize gay marriage and adoption.
She has done a lot of traveling to the mid east and China and recently Germany to acquaint herself with foreign affairs. The opposition reaction to these trips reveal the macho attitudes she battles in her campaign. They have tried to paint her as incompetent and unable to grasp the complexities of international politics, quick to grasp any slip of the tongue or misinterpret any statement.
Most of this has backfired as Sarkozy time and time again has proven that he knows less and his eagerness to be Bush and Blair's new best friend has not worked for him.
Segolenes greatest asset is her personal contact. When ever she appears on Television, talking for an hour or more with out notes, her raitings always jump a few points in the following days. There is a sure calmness she exudes. She believes she will be president and her belief is infectuous......I believe and I think more and more French voters are beginning to believe every day.