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Yesterday Once More
Oh boo hoo. Former French PM Lionel Jospin has set out his stall for the Socialist Party presidential candidacy with a tearful attack on leading contender Ségolène Royal.
Jospin notoriously failed to reach the second round of the 2002 presidential elections, scoring just 17 percent of votes cast. Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen took Jospin's "rightful" place in the presidential run-off, provoking a crisis in the Socialist Party and France at large.
Jospin then retired from politics. By the 2007 election, he will be close to 70: Following President Jacques Chirac's increasingly impotent reign - and the death in office of his predecessor, Francois Mitterand - many observers concluded that the French would support a younger president, a dynamic "CEO of the nation" rather than the frail "papy of the nation."
The French preference for seniority is not going away easily. Coupled with the suspicion of party heavyweights that Royal's candidacy is a media creation, and grassroots feeling that she isn't far-left enough for French tastes, Jospin has returned to the race. Speaking at the PS "summer university" this weekend, the former PM fought tears as he remembered his humiliation in 2002. Delegates clapped and cheered as he made a speech insiders reckon amounted to a declaration he is willing to serve again if his party will have him.
Jospin, who has the backing of several powerful figures in the party, said that any campaign he would lead would includ "a fidelity to authentic left-wing politics and an understanding and respect for grass-roots activism". Ségolène Royal, in contrast, is accused of borrowing ideas from the right and, worse, Britain's Tony Blair.
Jospin may be yesterday's man, but by French terms he wasn't a disastrous PM. While the "cohabitation" between the centre-right Chirac and left-wing Socialists stalled the ambitions of both sides, only the introduction of the 35-hour week stands out as a particularly bad idea. Jospin's government lowered taxes, reduced unemployment and sold off some national industries.
Famously, he called for a "market economy, not a market society" as the defining feature of his political vision: In the mid-90s, when it seemed that soundbites mattered more than policy, this was as good as they got.
His rehabilitation attracts parallels with another defeated candidate who has recently returned to prominence: Al Gore. Gore, unlike Jospin, denies any plans to run for the presidency again - but if Jospin has another crack at the title at 69, perhaps Gore will too.
The conference ended with the traditional plea for unity from party secretary Francois Hollande - Royal's partner, and a presidential hopeful himself. As it emerged earlier this week that party candidates might face one another in televised debates, including a potential Royal - Hollande clash - unity seemed a very distant prospect.
The PS choses its candidate in November.
