PPI President Will Marshall argues that the victory of Francois Hollande, a Socialist and the next president of France, will not likely have any significant impact on the American presidential election over at POLITICO’s Arena:
Americans look to France for many things – fine wine and food, romantic getaways, bullet trains – but rarely for political models. Some Republicans may try to draw parallels between President Obama and a real Socialist, Francoise Hollande, but swing voters don’t share the GOP’s Francophobia.
Besides, as Reds go, Hollande isn’t very menacing. For all his talk of putting growth before austerity, Hollande promised during the campaign to balance France’s budget just one year later than Sarkozy. And Hollande’s will be constrained from a massive public spending splurge by France’s need to borrow from capital markets to finance its enormous debt (90 percent of GDP).
