American counterparts of French Presidents

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Give us Paul Deschanel!

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Roosevelt was in no way on the right of the political spectrum.

You know, de Gaulle was very annoyed when someone tried to classify him as either right- or left-wing. As well as he rejected such classification of gaullism.

While it's true gaullist movement (and by gaullism movement I mean political parties, starting with RPF) had many right-wingers, and with Pompidou succession it became genuinely centre-right force, there was a significant number of left-wingers around de Gaulle. Just to name Andre Marlaux, Rene Capitant and, by some measure, Jacques Chaban-Delmas. Even pre-Algerie francaise Soustelle.

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Because of his historical role as well as his "idea of France", de Gaulle was a political exception. He did not believe in political ideologies, as we use to define. You may call him a nationalist, but not in any negative meaning of this term. He displayed some right-wing elements, as well as some left-wing elements. He was, personally, a traditionalist and "sentimental monarchist", but firmly stand on a republican and democratic ground and, according to all accounts, he was also a very open-minded and tolerant individual.

"Gaullism", under the general, was an absolute commitment to France and her grandeur. So you may try to define it as believing in a public service and putting it above everything.

...also, give us Paul Deschanel, damn it!

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Give us Paul Deschanel!

It's really impossible to compare 3rd/4th Republic Presidents with American ones, considering how different their functions are. However, if we have to look for a pathetic failure as pathetic as Deschanel (in the fashion "what the f**k is he doing ?!?"), only John Tyler comes to my mind.

I can't do better than that, sorry.

No alternative proposals ?

Oh, I missed that, sorry.

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Anyway, I generally agree with Antonio's analysis.

As of Giscard, it's funny, since, unlike "Jimmy Who", he was literally born into a political establishment, but indeed became President as an underdog. He was merely a leader of a junior coalition party and I doubt he'd win without pompidouist deserting Chaban. And, true, he lacked a firm political base.

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Your description of Sarkozy makes him sound very much like Nixon.

Oh come on now, Xahar. After all, Nixon was actually an accomplished man.

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Was Nixon really hated by congressional democrats before the Watergate ? Hell, he basically governed like a democrat, on domestic issues at least.

That's not really true, despite the perception. He didn't win the whole South by adopting the principles of Hubert Humphrey's Democratic Party.

Well, I think most of this can be explained by who his opponent was and by his rhetoric. Of course Nixon wasn't as left-wing as Humphrey but it seems to me that some of his policies (minimum wage, developing Affirmative Action, trying to pass a public health care) were pretty close to a left-wing platform, even for that time.

At the same time, Nixon administration opposed busing and he appointed conservative justices, which was pretty appealing to the South. Not to mention his ideological policy ("silent majority").

Nixon liked to think of himself as a modern Disraeli: the one who maintains conservative rethorics and basic principles, while being able, unlike an official left, to pass modern initiatives.

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Who's Francois Hollande's counterpart?

Ah, if we're talking about American counterparts to other French politicians...

EXCESSIVE HYPERBOLE ALERT



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