The Daily Clarity

It is hard not to have a sneaky admiration for the political finesse of French President Sarkozy, whether you agree with his policies or not. He is, to the core, a politician. He made a rather altruistic speech yesterday, that if it wasn’t for the timing, one would have never suspected a self-serving political intent at its core. We have reported previously on the fall from grace of the French Minister for Human Rights, Rama Yade. If you haven’t caught up with her meteoric political rise and crash, you can refer to this article on her career to date here,  Rama Yade. Sarkozy in his speech yesterday, positioned himself as a hero in the drive for ethnic integration in the French community, while simultaneously sticking Ms. Yade with his political stilletto with what may well be a fatal wound to her Ministerial career. Sarkozy said that he was unhappy with the pace of change, and while never actually mentioning Ms. Yade by name or announcing her departure, he essentially took a fair amount of her portfolio away with his statements.

Associated Press has the story. “President Nicolas Sarkozy, impatient with what he said was the slow pace of promoting diversity in France, announced measures Wednesday to put more ethnic minorities on TV screens, in political parties and in elite schools. A government action plan to be presented by March will spell out the measures in detail. The project is to be overseen by a newly appointed commissioner for diversity and equality, Yazid Sabeg, a son of Algerian immigrants who is known for his efforts to bring equality to the workplace. “It’s not moving fast enough,” Sarkozy said in a speech at the elite Ecole Polytechnique, south of Paris, a symbol of the very system that has locked minorities out of the mainstream. France must change so that “no French person feels like a stranger in his own country.” Turning to his audience, Sarkozy said prestigious schools must make room for all. “We are going to throw open the doors of places where tomorrow’s elite are formed,” he said.”

The important part of his speech as far as Ms. Yade is concerned, was the announcement of the new appointment of  commissioner for diversity and equality. By stating his dissatisfaction with progress to date, and by tasking the commissioner with diversity and equality, it leaves Sarkozy free to quiely reshuffle his cabinet and send the troublesome Ms.Yade off to pasture. Sarkozy, ever the ultimate politician, in a stroke rids himself of one of his problems internally, while appearing to push for progress on a cultural issue that has been a plague, and a frequent source of civil disorder in France, in one moment. While we have yet to see any announcement of Ms. Yade’s departure, if we were her, we would be polishing up our resume and starting the networking process. We think she will be looking for anew job very shortly.