Word: royall
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Nobody likes to hear couples argue in public, so France's presidential front-runner Segolene Royal has a delicate problem - her partner and the father of her four children, Francois Hollande, is a policy wonk, and not all of his policy positions are the same as hers. It gets a little more complicated, though, because Hollande is also the leader of the Socialist Party whose nomination Royal recently won. His deft behind-the-scenes management of rival factions prevented ugly splits during the party's hotly contested primaries - the holding of which earned him plaudits, since the party's nomination...
...This week Hollande promised that in the event of a leftist election sweep, tax cuts passed by the current conservative government would be rolled back in order to start cutting France's enormous debt. Royal promptly begged to differ, noting her presidential platform contained no income tax increases. She argues that France's lofty tax scale already leaves average workers feeling their hard work is being penalized, and raising taxes could slow consumption, a main motor of French economic growth. But as in any good domestic spat, Hollande wasn't going to let his partner have the last word...
...Royal has not gotten this far in the testosterone mosh pit of French politics to accept the rebuke, especially not from a guy with whom she has to share a bathroom. On Friday, she reiterated her promise to refrain from tax hikes and other measures "that discourage working," suggesting instead that the debt may be tackled by stiffening capital gains or corporate profit taxes. Royal then landed Hollande a blow square to the political shorts by tapping party heavyweight Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who contested the primary against her, to lead a study on tax reform. In doing so, Royal...
...Hollande appears outmaneuvered, exposed - some say - as a capable yet cornered party leader struggling to remain relevant. And who knows how the fallout from the kafuffle affected the domestic bliss of the Hollande-Royal household. To protect their relationship, the couple could learn from American political pugilists James Carville and Mary Matalin, who keep things interesting at home by earning their keep doing battle for opposite sides. Perhaps Hollande ought to be advising Royal's probable conservative foe, Nicolas Sarkozy? And there's got to be a lesson somewhere in all of this for Hillary Clinton...
...intense that "Abbas was advised by a Saudi official not to believe what Rice says or follow her instructions." Indeed, despite U.S. efforts to persuade Arab regimes to shun and isolate Hamas, the Saudis invited Hamas Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh to join the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, giving him royal treatment all the way, including use of a private jet that flew him from Egypt to Saudi Arabia...