The new name? Les Republicains. Yeah.....a catchy title.
Nicolas Sarkozy gave a five-star speech to note the change and lead the political party in the upcoming political election period. I sat and watched the speech last night. My French.....other than the words for 'toilet', 'thanks' and 'do you speak English'.....my vocabulary is virtually zero. But what I viewed was a passionate speech and emotion fitting the occasion. The German news folks say more than seventy percent of the old UMP Party members agreed on the new name.
There are three major political fronts at work in France, and another twenty odd minor operations which could influence local elections. The Les Republicains? Well....lately, they've been running third and some French say they aren't leaning far enough to the right (yeah, that's an odd thing for a French guy to say.....even I'll admit that).
Does rebranding a political party work? Rarely. But in this case.....they had to do something of a drastic nature to attract national attention. Right now.....for the Sunday morning political chat shows in France....this is the ONLY topic of discussion.
As for Germans freaking out over the use of "Republicains"? Well.....yeah....the Germans tend to associate the word with George Bush. So, they might be a bit hyper. Oddly, France developed the political ideology two centuries ago. If you asked a German for the full title of Germany.....it's the Federal Republic of Germany (something that only twenty percent of Germans would realize if you tested them on the streets of the country).
Bottom line? Elections always enjoy a twist or two, and rebranding might be such a twist.
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