Last night the French -- at least all 8,91 million of them, stopped everything they were doing and watched Ségolène Royal as she responded to the nation's "J'ai une question à vous poser" - I have a question to ask you. The French loved the "new look" programme -- the setting was modern, the colours were superb, the audience was an excellent cross-mix covering every milieu and level in society, and Ségolène Royal performed like a star -- careful not to repeat any of her previous gaffes in public.
What is interesting is that the French headlines today read Les Français se passionnent pour les émissions politiques "new look", - passionate being a word not lightly used. Nevertheless, the British BBC gave the British point of view and judged her to have been tense and found much to give cynical comment on, even making one wonder whether they had in fact watched the entire programme----"Viewers would have switched off as the show went on, it predicted. By the end, the only thing left in the studio was "her smile, floating obstinately in the air", like the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland"; while The Independent reported: "Challenged with being a "media'' fantasy and incapable of governing France as a woman, Mme Royal said: "I am ready. No man with my qualifications would have been subjected to the doubts and criticisms I have received. My fundamental values as a woman are the values France now needs."
Mme Royal was answering questions from 100 voters on France's most popular channel, TF1. She gave a confident performance, especially on issues such as education, the family, health and welfare."
But it is not the British that will vote in the coming election. It is the French, and the potential first woman president of France broke ten-year records last night for a major programme to be transmitted during prime time. Two weeks ago Nicolas Sarkozy was invited to the same programme and also attracted huge numbers of viewers - just over 8 million. I was glued to my television set. As a public speaker she excelled. She was ready with all the answers - and if the criticism is that she looked rehearsed, then I say Bravo! for if one is going to present to an audience of 9 million people, then you better be rehearsed! And for the first time I found her to be able to competently parry the questions with well thought-through responses. She still promises much for which the funding seems somewhat obscure (!), but she never relied on airy-fairy political jargon ("Le desir de l'avenir....)and chose her words carefully, tactfully and correctly. At one point a gentleman in a wheelchair burst into tears under the pressure of the lights, the cameras and the occasion, and one could say she used the opportunity brilliantly to step up to him and without words, for a few seconds, gently rubbed his back to reassure him, showing herself as the "Mother of the nation" - as she would like to see herself. I would rather say she did so quite spontaneously -- the one moment during the marathon session when she in fact did what came naturally, and not what was preprared and anticipated and practised before. She showed class -- and for that the French will most certainly "se passionnent"!
And one has to ask the question: When has a British politician ever attracted that many viewers on prime time television in the UK? -- I am willing to risk a bet that the only time that is ever likely to happen is when the leader of the Conservative Party becomes a finalist in Big Brother...........
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