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Ségo And Hillary Show Postponed
Ségolène Royal's remarks apparently in support of a Hizbollah politician's rant against Israel and the United States continue to haunt her. It's now claimed that the Socialist Party's presidential candidate has had to postpone a trip to the US, where she hoped to share a triumphant platform with Hillary Clinton, after Mrs Clinton refused to meet her.
On paper, it would be a dream ticket: The wife of a president who is still fondly remembered in France (sort of), representing an America the French elite claims to admire (in its fashion), joins forces with the modernising face of a new France. Two women hoping to become the first of their gender to lead their nation.
Especially since a couple of months ago Royal's likely opponent, Nicolas Sarkozy, went out of his way to show a friendly relationship with George Bush.
Pity, then, that the middle east had to drag this arranged marriage apart.
Or did it? The Telegraph's source might be jumping to conclusions. Royal and Clinton may represent new brooms in their own nations, but to their citizens (that is, their voters), their counterparts look distinctly alien.
Royal isn't just French, but she's the candidate of a party that is even more anti-American than President Chirac's Gaullists. Only last year, it campaigned for the EU constitution based on the slogan of "a strong Europe to face America."
Cosmetically, Royal and Clinton might make a good match but there are huge differences, not just on Royal's ill-advised "nodding dog" comments on Hizbollah. Clinton, who's by no means assured of her party's nomination, could enervate the "anyone but Hillary camp" even further by sharing a platform with a French socialist. And Royal? Well, there is a hefty slice of opinion in her party that sees America as the source of all the world's evils, whether George W Bush or Hillary Clinton is at the wheel. Royal has to ensure these lefties don't desert her camp for the lures of France's even-further-to-the-left extremists, otherwise she faces a fate similar to Lionel Jospin in 2002.
Both women have something to lose from such a meeting. However, Hillary probably risks more. Because of this, perhaps she shouldn't be so sniffy with Ségo: After all, Royal stands an Evens chance of becoming president of France next year: Hillary, for the time being, is just hype - and plenty of people reckon she has next to zero chance of securing the Democratic nomination, never mind the presidency.
