Hervé Morin announced his candidacy this weekend. Is he anything but a stalking horse for Sarkozy, to prevent centrist voters from defecting to Bayrou, EELV, or even Hollande? I doubt it. On the other hand, Bayrou, who hasn't announced yet, might become a plausible candidate if Hollande proves to be an inept campaigner. A friend suggests that I've written him off too early and recommends this recent interview as a specimen of his abilities:
I find some of his formulas rather overdone: "
On ne produit plus en France." To be sure, he follows up immediately by giving an accurate trade deficit figure. But he doesn't analyze the possible effects of the austerity program that he recommends on French production and the balance of payments. What troubles me about Bayrou is that he is, by predilection,
un cavalier seul. He is excellent with the rhetoric of good government, but behind the rhetoric one has the sense that there isn't enough of an organization to formulate a coherent policy in all the areas that a government must govern. It's not enough to be "good" in the moral sense; one must also be competent, or "good" in the technical sense, and no one can do it alone. (h/t JG)
