Before last weekend’s vote in France, where the right-wing party took the biggest share, I watched the debate between the current prime minister and the would-be prime minister, one 35, the other 28.
The mics were not controlled by the host, the French television station France 2, and early on it devolved into an argument over racism. Gabriel Attal, 35, prime minister of the current centrist government, attacked statements regarding immigrants made by supporters of Jordan Bardella, 28, from the rightist party Rassemblement National. The youngest employee at Courthouse News said she would that based on his appearance, she would vote for Bardella no matter what he said.
A third candidate was also on stage, Olivier Faure, head of the Socialist Party, a vigorous and intellectual 55-year-old. In effect, represented at the three lecterns were the left, center and right of French politics.
While the debate was intense and the candidates often talked over each other, in the main, they managed to make their points. The moderators controlled them with a mix of brio, reason and civility.
It was intellectually invigorating. It was a battle of words, clever turns of phrase, and ideas.
For example, Bardella was attacked by both the other candidates over a position taken by his party leader Marine Le Pen, saying those with dual nationality should not hold important posts in government.
Faure from the left quoted Le Pen on that point and threw a hanging curve at Bardella: “So what does that mean?”
Bardella knocked it out of the park: “That means if you are Russian, we don’t put you in charge of French intelligence services.”
I laughed and have to say I agreed.
The contrast with the U.S. debate I had watched the night before was unfortunately enormous.
I had watched two elderly gentlemen arguing with half-finished, not entirely audible sentences, on the one hand, and strings of fabulism, with random references to “the laptop,” on the other.
The two candidates then debated their golf handicaps. The word I used to people at work the next morning was, “Painful.”
Even the long-prepared and rehearsed closing statements were empty, in the case of Trump, and haltingly delivered, in the case of Biden. Watching them, I had thought to myself, how can closing statements be so lacking.
While the debate in France was vigorous and entertaining, the problems that nation faces are as serious or more so than here. A stagnant standard of living, anger with immigration, high energy prices, a warming climate and a war going on nearby.
There were no light-bulb solutions coming out of the debate. But the issues were coherently and vigorously argued.
As the contest proceeded, the host station kept things lively by using imagery, stills and videos, broadcast on a screen behind the candidates.
One video featured, naturally, a baker making baguettes. It showed him laying out the dough on trays as he explained how much he was paid. When he later pulled the crisp baguettes out of the oven, he paused and turned to the camera: “What will you do to raise my wages,” he asked the candidates. “I’ve been asking the same question for 20 years.”
That led to a free-for-all among the candidates with the lefty Faure attacking centrist Attal as a friend of the rich while right-wing Bardella touted his plan to cut value-added taxes from 20% to 5.5%.
Faure said the current Macron government first gave huge tax breaks to the rich and then Macron argued the coffers were empty when it came to wages for the working class. “Vous avez vous meme videz les caisses,” he said. You have yourself emptied the coffers.
Over the course of the debate, food was a regular theme, a topic that blends in France with the right’s appeal to tradition and patriotism. “I want to localize production,” said Bardella, and support “a patriotic economy.”
He talked about the great French restaurants and complained that two thirds of the beef consumed in France is imported. He said beef consumed in France should be raised in France.
Answering the baker, he added, “The French bakery in rural areas is the last social benefit. It’s the heart of the life of the village. I propose that France defend their interests in Europe.”
And so it went. Here in America, soon, a new generation of leaders will emerge, and a great exchange of ideas will hopefully ensue. Knock on wood.
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