France's Socialist Party: The man who would be president.

[pampango]

With Nicolas Sarkozy deeply unpopular and the right having occupied the presidency since 1995, it is the Socialists’ election to lose. But the party has an uncanny talent for blowing its chances by picking the wrong candidate. Is it about to do so again?

Candidates for the Socialist primary have until this June to declare themselves, ahead of a vote in the autumn. To outsiders, the choice looks simple. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the Washington-based IMF, boasts both heavyweight credentials and domestic appeal. A former finance minister of France, an ex-economics professor and one-time mayor of Sarcelles (a banlieue of Paris), he has grown in stature in his current job, at home and abroad. The French have become accustomed to seeing him hobnobbing with world leaders and bailing out debt-laden countries. In December he topped a popularity poll of French politicians.

And the field looks crowded. Ségolène Royal, who beat Mr Strauss-Kahn in the 2006 primary but was defeated by Mr Sarkozy in the following year’s presidential election, has announced that she will stand. So have Manuel Valls and Arnaud Montebourg, two younger aspirants. François Hollande, the party’s ex-leader and Ms Royal’s ex-partner, may also join the race.

Should he go for it, Mr Strauss-Kahn’s biggest test may be to readapt to the Socialists’ left-wing centre of gravity, which puts them at odds with most European social-democratic parties. Only this week the party was up in arms when Mr Valls, one of the younger crowd, suggested abolishing the 35-hour week. In December a proto-manifesto entitled “Real Equality” called for crèches, jobs, housing and holidays for all, with passing reference to how to finance them (more taxes on higher earners and an end to tax breaks for the rich).

http://www.economist.com/node/17854925?story_id=17854925&fsrc=rss

[Odin2005]

1. The Socialists should beat the shit out of that IMF Corporatist scumbag.

Why is he even in the party? the IMF is right-wing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Maybe the IMF isn't as simple as you imagine it to be

He's been a figure in the Socialist Party since the early 80s. He was appointed as head of the IMF in 2007.

[Catherina]

3. Because the French Socialist Party is just as infiltrated as the Democratic Party here.

Kahn is what's known in Socialist circles as a "centrist" with moderate-conservative views. When he was Minister, he implemented quite a few neo-liberal policies. You do the math on that one. He's been angling for the Presidency since 2005. Unfortunately for him, "La base ne veut pas de ce faux socialiste!" Another comment to the same article which needs no translation, but says it all "DSK est un homme TRES INTELLIGENT-PRAGMATIQUE-REALISTE". Where have we heard that before?

It is important at this stage to clarify Strauss-Kahn's basic outlook. He seeks to purge the party of Marxism. The French socialists, rebranded as "social democrats", would officially endorse markets and reject the supremacy of the state in economic matters. But that does mean that it would break all ties with the radicals. "France has always had a creative utopian left, and we could have electoral alliances with them", Jean-Marie Le Guen says. Strauss-Kahn and his supporters, in other words, would still be with the Marxists, just not of them.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-institutions_government/lost_left_4672.jsp

But to be fair to Kahn, you should know that Sarkozy named him to the IMF to get him out of the way and pretend he was going to be working with the Left.

Here is an interesting write up on Kahn

...

When Sarkozy nominated Strauss Kahn as managing director of the IMF in 2007, the president must have thought he had sidelined a rival for good.

The IMF was sliding into irrelevance, its advice largely ignored and its loans seen as unnecessary in a world flush with private capital.

The fund’s lending commitments had shrunk to a paltry $2 billion, which meant that it barely took in enough interest to meet its own costs.

Today that situation has been transformed, partly because of the global financial crisis and partly because of Strauss-Kahn’s shrewd leadership.

His Keynesian instincts have proved to be in tune with the times, shedding the IMF’s reputation as a bastion of hardcore neoliberalism.

Some people have even compared the fund to a world government, with the suave and fatherly Frenchman as its benign dictator.

With typical modesty, Strauss-Kahn (or DSK as he is popularly known) has claimed that in 2010 he pushed through ‘‘the most important reforms in the governance of the IMF since its creation’’.

He may very well be correct. First, Strauss-Kahn has spearheaded new procedures that allowed the IMF to dole out large sums very quickly and have increased its loan book to almost $200 billion.

Often criticised for imposing a ‘‘one sizefits-all’’ model, the fund is now much more sensitive in tailoring flexible packages to suit a country’s individual needs.

By trusting governments to make the necessary economic adjustments on their own, it is hoped that this will gradually reduce the stigma attached to asking for outside help.

Secondly, Strauss-Kahn has given emerging economies in Asia and Latin America a much greater say in how the institution is run.

After decades of domination By Washington and Brussels, the combined voting power of the US and the EU is set to fall below 50 per cent for the first time.

The new rules will also take account of countries’ growth rates, which means that African nations can aspire to greater influence if their economic performance improves.

...

http://www.insidegov.org/?p=450