More on Macron and meeting in the middle

Back in May, I analyzed the French presidential election, in which I pointed out that Emmanuel Macron’s stunning victory had come despite his not having been affiliated with any traditional French party. This, I posited, would be seen by many observers as a weakness, the assumption being that he might not be able to garner the favor of parties that he didn’t represent in Parliament. But I added that, seen from a different perspective, it might actually turn out to be a strength, because he was bringing no inherited political rivalries with him into office.

This, I said, was a place where Macron needed to avoid failure, seeking to be the representative of a broad base of French voters and lawmakers who are fed up with the apparent incapacity of the French left and right to put aside their pointless ideological impasse and seek ways to actually serve the wide-ranging interests of the people. And that this, in turn, could provide an example to other countries, such as the United States, where the two extremes of the political spectrum are pitted against each other in a bitter and pointless ideological battle that concentrates on blockading any and all compromises creating a stalemate in the actual business of government and acrimoniously dividing the country’s population.
“What will most come into play,” I suggested, “is his ability to create ample relations and to soothe divisions for the good of the French Republic as a whole, and in this sense, his stature as an independent who pulled off a landslide victory should work entirely to his advantage in gaining broad support from all but the far-right and far-left of the political spectrum, whose advance he must seek to isolate and block.”

Just over a month in, this appears to already be coming to pass. Macron’s signals that he will lead a centrist administration whose aim is to focus on France’s most pressing problems rather than on the political in-fighting that has for too long consumed the energy of the mainstream political parties and divided the country has, by its own weight, split traditional right-wing French Republicans into two separate political groups. Die-hard far-right Republicans have vowed to resist the Macron government on principle at every turn. But a score of Republican legislators have formed a new political movement, which they are calling Constructive Republicanism. They have been joined in a legislative coalition by 18 members of the center-rightist UDI in backing Macron’s plans and are hoping that at least another dozen members of Parliament will join their ranks.
Thierry Solère, who has emerged as the leading spokesperson for the group is, himself, a controversial figure on the right, one who has repeatedly gone head to head in clashes with other personalities in the UMP Party in which he was active at a municipal and regional level before scoring a major victory in national legislative elections. More recently, however, he has been named “Deputy (lower house member) of the Year” for his part in building a workable center-right alliance.
Solère is an ally of Macron’s pick for prime minister, Edouard Philippe, and of current Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire. The center-right “Constructivists” have indicated that they will “work with the reforms that are going in the right direction and oppose when necessary” in working with the Macron administration. That’s about as fair a plan as the new president could possibly hope for from the opposition.

Macron had already gained the support of centrists before the election, in the person of Francoise Bayrou, leader of the Democratic Movement (MoDem). Last February, Bayrou announced that instead of running for president himself, he would endorse Macron’s En Marche movement’s bid for the office. The alliance took rivals and pundits alike by surprise. In turn, Macron made a commitment to seek passage of a “clean government” law that Bayrou proposed.
A vocal campaigner for civil liberties, Bayrou is also a powerful voice for the European Union, which he has described as “the most beautiful construction of all humanity.” In the wake of Brexit, Bayrou is seeking an expanded role for France in the EU.
These are not only healthy attitudes—as in beneficial for the health of the nation—but also precisely the duty of elected officials everywhere and not just in France. But in the last decade, politics throughout the West has become increasingly polarized and reflective of the situation that led up to World War II. Furthermore, this has led on the international stage to a revival of the Cold War era, with its rarefied spy versus spy atmosphere but, in the current case, with a decidedly more dangerous escalation of triggers for potential proxy wars and possible future armed conflicts among major powers.

In this sense, France is fast shaping up as an example for the world, and particularly for the West. Macron’s image as a centrist peacemaker has nipped the emergence of a far-right populist trend in the bud—at least for the time being—thus running counter to a growing pseudo-democratic populist trend in the West as a whole, mostly notably represented by latest political developments in the United States and, to a lesser degree, Britain.
What is most important is what happens from here on. If Macron manages to galvanize and maintain a centrist alliance capable of driving genuine change and of providing cogent and practical responses to the issues that really matter voters, he and his widening range of parliamentary supporters stand to become a shining example to the world of how to respond to the re-emergence of radical movements seeking to undermine democracy and to instate a form of elitist autocracy in the guise of populism.
What are these common concerns that resonate among people at large? The first and foremost is an outgrowth of the need to re-establish, by example, trust in government to do its job in providing effective solutions (and in democracy as the best method for doing so). But at a more practical level, people in France as in much of the rest of the West, are concerned about unemployment, automation, a dwindling job market, financial insecurity, the perceived threat of massive immigration and the lack of effective social security programs to deal with these and other emerging social problems.

The ability of Macron to properly invest his current popularity and growing support in setting immediately to the task of finding a path toward innovative and creative solutions to bolster the confidence of a broadening constituency will be the measure of his success, following a spectacular election win. Conversely, his failure to take advantage of his momentum and show practical results at a grassroots level could end up not only spelling his political demise but also the further undermining of belief in representative democracy as the best possible system of government—something that would lead to a renewed resurgence of populism and subsequent autocractic designs.
Democrats everywhere should be rooting for Macron in his efforts to create an effective centrist alliance focused on real issues instead of on populist agendas. But in order for him to succeed, he will need to concentrate all of his intelligence, political savvy, youth and vigor on creating innovative and practical solutions to the unprecedented challenges of the 21st century, the main result of which is the ever-increasing social insecurity to which averaging citizens are ever more exposed.