Word: jobert
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...years in the Elysée, the party saw the presidency go to a non-Gaullist, former Finance Minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Many Gaullists are now turning to another non-Gaullist who, paradoxically, they think may be the savior of their movement. He is Michel Jobert, 53, who, as Georges Pompidou's last Foreign Minister, was a frequent critic of both Henry Kissinger and the Common Market. Jobert's recently published political memoirs, proudly nationalistic and subtly anti-American, have created a sensation in France, and he is now one of the country...
French politics has rarely seen the equivalent of what is universally known as "the Jobert phenomenon." The elfin, acerbic Jobert was unknown outside the shadows of power less than two years ago, but already his new party, the Movement of Democrats, has an impressive total of 140 clubs around the nation. Jobert, who currently holds no government post, looks like a candidate running hard for office, even though it is 6½ years before the next presidential election and three years before the next scheduled vote for the National Assembly. During one barnstorming day last week, Jobert shook hands...
Even in these face-to-face meetings, though, Jobert remains an enigma. Small in stature (5 ft. 4 in.) and shy in demeanor, Jobert is a world apart from the usual backslapping, smiling politician. Born in Morocco of French parents, he did not come to France to live until he was 18. He graduated from the prestigious National School of Administration, and until Pompidou appointed him Foreign Minister in 1973, he had spent his entire career as a bureaucrat. He is quiet, shakes hands with a stiffness in his right arm from a war wound, and rarely smiles, except...
...public rallies are more of the same. Deadly serious, Jobert could almost be making a budget presentation. He rattles in a monotone through "my analysis of the situation" or a "brief analysis." But he has a certain malicious wit. When asked why he had not mentioned the name of his rival, President Giscard d'Estaing, once in the 310 pages of his memoirs, Jobert replied: "The name of the President of the Republic was too long to write...
...betraying the "union of the left" that was formed in 1972. Giscard, however, has been subject to sniping from Gaullists within the ranks of his parliamentary majority; they fear that he may be abandoning his predecessor's foreign policy of "grandeur." Another critic is former Foreign Minister Michel Jobert; he is currently touring the country, both promoting his bestselling autobiography and accusing Giscard of doing too little to control inflation...