There is a scandal in France surrounding the revelation of a presidential affair.
In short, the President has been seen riding a scooter with actress/model Julie Gayet and the pictures caused enough emotional distress to his companion Valerie Trierweiler that she was subsequently admitted to a hospital. The press has attempted to grill the President about the affair during the official New Year interview that took place today but he simply admitted to the liaison and otherwise refused to discuss the matter. For once, I’ll have to agree with François Hollande.
http://www.france24.com/en/20140114-live-french-president-francois-hollandes-press-conference/
Contrarily to many headlines as those below,
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/12/world/europe/french-first-lady/
the concept of First Lady is not inscribed in the rules of the French Republic. What may come as even more of a surprise is that it is not included in the American laws either. In fact, no Western democracy has provisions in its Constitution regarding the role of spouses and that is perfectly normal. In a monarchy, constitutional as Britain’s or otherwise, the distinction has some merit but not in a democracy.
We elect a person ( not necessarily a man by the way ) as head of state and it really has no importance whatsoever what that person’s marital status is or we’d also have First Kids as long as we’re at it … or at least it shouldn’t except for two considerations. First, there is the rare case of the First Partner having a role in politics. That is in fact where the idea of First Lady emerged from in the USA. Edith Wilson and later Eleanor Roosevelt carried themselves with tremendous aplomb and grace when their respective husbands suffered from grave illnesses while Presidents.
That incorrectly lead to an accrued role for the following wives of that nation’s Presidents. But again, this is not based on any legal status. The other political influence of a First Partner is found when that person has a political career of their own. The only clear cut case of this is that of Hillary Clinton. It very much relates to our subject as if she was to be nominated and elected in 2016 which remains a possibility, an ex-President ( her husband Bill ) would then return to the White House in a new role : First Man? I’d welcome that if only as it also relates to the French Hollande situation for if we all remember correctly, that ex-US President was also caught with his , huh, hand in the honey jar?
Will Bill show as much good will as Hill did if she cuddles an intern? Just wonderin’
So, not only is there no real status of First Lady but Valerie Trierweiler, François’ partner is not even married to him for Pete’s sake ( or should it be Peter’s pe..er ). So that in the best of cases, she should be referred to as the First Girlfriend? I’m very sorry to say this now as the sad for her events are unfolding but French taxpayers probably don’t relish shelling out for her in official functions? And isn’t cheating on your non-wife a non-sequitur by the way? Or will François drop Valérie and be accompanied on his upcoming trip to Washington by his First Lover? I mean seriously, what’s next if we go along that line? First Fling? Heck, if Rosario Dawson or Selma Hayek, Kate Winslow or Cate Blanchett and or Charlize Theron make the switch from acting and get elected to lead their respective countries, I’ll volunteer for the Title of First One Night Stand!!! Does anyone have an idea what the benefits of the ( hum ) positions entail … apart from the obvious?
[ I couldn’t help reflect that with same-sex marriage and thinking back to the religion of a candidate in the last US election, if a bisexual polygamist ever gets elected somewhere, will his/her entourage be called First Gang or First Tribe or what? ]
So President Hollande is having sexcapades on a scooter? Who cares? He divorced his wife and mother of his children as they both battled for top leadership of their party, remember? Not the classiest guy to begin with. His immediate predecessor got divorced while in office, remember that? Although to his credit, he did marry his new flame! That may, just may, be of importance. If François Hollande was to marry Julie Gayet, then maybe we could have an opinion as to the man’s morals … for that is the only use of such revelations.
http://world.time.com/2014/01/13/why-francois-hollandes-personal-life-is-a-public-matter/
I agree to the above piece by Time magazine. We do not need the pictures or the audio tapes or the play by play description of whatever sexual activities our politicians are involved in. We only need to know whether the participants were adults and willing, possibly their names for reasons pertaining to national security as banging Russian spies or North Korean envoys. We also need to know if the relation was cheating or not in order to judge the character of that person we elected. If they lie to their wife or husband, I may not want to trust them not to lie to me as head of state. If other actors were involved in providing or hiding the affairs, people of less than stellar repute or if the services of the Nation through government agents or agencies were allocated to protecting such secret love stories, that too, is of interest to the citizen.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10571277/Photographer-reveals-how-he-tracked-down-Francois-Hollande-and-lover-Julie-Gayet.html
But that’s it! In this case, François Hollande more or less confirmed being rather callous about his emotional involvements which as I pointed out above, we already knew of. It seems that you’re a louse, my poor man! The question is whether this affects your role as President of one of the most powerful Nations on Earth? Personally, I’ve called you out on a few occasions on this blog for various things such as going back and forth on some supposed decisions, using & misusing your country’s valiant soldiers for political gains while at the same time cutting the funding that allows them to perform their task and die with honor ( in respect of which you might try to live with the same ) and forgetting to defer to the people on important matters. Those are things on which an elected political leader should be judged in my honest opinion.
For there is a scandal of much greater proportions in La Belle France at present than your gallivanting, namely the dire state of its economy? So let me make a suggestion here : you try to keep your presidential organ in your pants ( or at least out of the news ) and concentrate on the job and only then ask the press to keep its collective nose out of your said pants ( and its mind out of the gutter but that may be too much to expect ).
It is funny to remember one electoral promise of yours though. You said you’d be a normal President, meaning an utterly ordinary man? As much as it pains me to say so as a guy myself, that is one promise that you’ve managed to keep? It doesn’t reflect well on men in general but it is rare enough for a politician; it had to be underlined.
Tay.
P.S. For those whose sense of humor outweighs their disgust, the following game is a must. Try to help François evade the press and his past loves on route to a gallant rendez-vous? LHAO
Definitive Lapse of Reason 