France needs more than just high-profile entertainers to speak out. It needs more small-scale businesses and younger people to rebel against the economic sclerosis that has crippled what otherwise could be a strong economy. Unfortunately, those that represent the center right (by French terms), like Sarkozy, tend to embrace aristocratic mannerisms — Sarko could be very rude, especially to everyday people he would encounter at public gatherings — and spend too much of their time hanging out with celebrities. And those who represent the far right are essentially national socialists. The libertarian ideal is promoted by just a handful of academics.

Hollande won the election in part because he has a reputation for being a nice, regular guy, he eschews the kind of bling that Sarko surrounded himself with, and he played up the impossible dream that leftist politicians cling to in France.

DSK (Dominique Strauss Khan) understands the kinds of reforms that France needs, and precisely because he was a member of the Socialist Party would have stood a good chance of getting them through Parliament — Nixon goes to China and all that. Unfortunately, he has a serious character flaw that only came to light publicly after he was arrested in New York last year.