Word: socialists
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...within both the party and the public, who see her as stuck in an ideologically rigid era that has passed. Both women had been written off by party heavyweights as has-beens. Now, however, they find themselves facing off for the job of restoring unity and direction to the Socialist Party...
...That suggests an Aubry victory, but the polarizing powers of both women make predicting the outcome difficult. "Because of that - and because the outcome will be close to 50-50 - I believe the eventual winner will have an extremely difficult time unifying and leading what is an extremely riven Socialist Party," says Pascal Perrineau, director of the Center for the Study of French Political Life in Paris. "The negative passions these two women generate sadly prove that hatred is not a vice associated exclusively with men. The [Socialists] will almost certainly pay dearly for that excess of emotion...
...Competent, determined and conviction-founded, Martine Aubry represents Socialist continuity and an attachment to the classic left; unpredictable, modern, telegenic, Ségolène Royal is the TV Madonna gifted with an iron will and whirring pragmatism," wrote daily Libération editor Laurent Joffrin in his Op-Ed Friday. "Martine Aubry wants to safeguard the homestead, while Ségolène Royal chases adventure," Joffrin continued, noting that in the absence of any major ideological gulf between the two reform-minded women, "there is an incontestable opposition of style...
...rivals' individual histories within the party have their share of drama. The daughter of former European Commission President Jacques Delors, Aubry, 58, was named to successive government posts after establishing herself as a major mover in the PS and among Socialist legislators. In 2000 she became the target of conservative ire when her law reducing France's workweek to 35 hours was adopted. (It was gutted by Sarkozy's government last July...
...adviser to the late President François Mitterrand and later held cabinet positions in government where she drew attention by working during her pregnancy - and unapologetically defending family and education positions normally associated with conservatives. Following her presidential defeat, Royal stunned many observers by publicly dumping Socialist Party leader François Hollande - her companion and the father of her four children - and announcing she'd seek his post during the current election. To some, that made Royal the symbol of the strong, modern woman in politics; to others, it cast her as the classic snake in the grass...