Oooh Ah Cantona say Oooh ah (President) Cantona

So former professional football player Eric Cantona wishes to run for President of France. He is currently seeking the required amount of signatures to be endorsed so he can move on with his campaign.

"The footballer, who would need the backing of 500 elected officials by the end of February to run, has sent a letter to French mayors describing himself as an "engaged citizen" and asking for their support.

"This engagement obliges me to speak, more earnestly than usual, but also with a keen sense of my responsibility, at a time when our country faces difficult choices which will be decisive for its future," said the letter.

In his letter, printed in the Liberation newspaper, Cantona denounced the limited opportunities for young people in France and social injustices which were "too numerous, too violent, too systematic", the newspaper said."

But even if he was to get he five hundred signatures required, in April the first round finishes and from what I understand only two candidates go through to the next round.
   Then again if a former Hollywood actor was able to become President of the United States then who knows, perhaps a former footballer like Eric Cantona could go all the way. I must say I  am very interested in what his policies would be and what people's reaction to him will be.
   Time will tell.

And if his election campaign goes bad.....

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9003925/Eric-Cantona-announces-bid-for-French-presidency.html

Exit right Michele Bachman?

It is getting pretty close to crunch time for those who are running to be nominated Republican candidate for the US Presidential election. The two who came out top were Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, the former winning by the narrowest of margins.
   At the bottom however things were very different. Michele Bachmann only gained 6,073 votes, which was only about 5%.
  From the Financial times:

"Ms Bachmann did not signal any intention to bow out of the race following her poor performance."

The overall table of results looks like this:

Iowa caucus result

Candidate	Number of votes
Mitt Romney	30,015 (25%)
Rick Santorum	30,007 (25%)
Ron Paul	26,219 (21%)
Newt Gingrich	16,251 (13%)
Rick Perry	12,604 (10%)
Michele Bachmann	6,073 (5%)

So as you can see, Romney only beat Rick Santorum by eight votes. A photo finish, but very important nevertheless.
  But it's not really a great result for Michele Bachman. In fact it's so bad even Sarah Palin thinks she should "call it quits." When the air headed "hockey mom" Sarah Palin thinks you should call it quits you know it's an uphill struggle.
  Frankly I have little sympathy. Michelle Bachman is a conservative buffoon, and most importantly she is a homophobic and so is her husband. The pair shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the White House purely for that very reason.
  Needless to say, I am very glad to see that she is doing poorly. I look forward to hearing she has dropped out of the race.

An interesting article in "The Washington Post" is titled "Where did Michele Bachman's Mama Grizzlies go?" In it, it describes the highs and lows of her campaign thus far to be elected Republican nominee.

"There’s no question why a liberal woman would not care for Bachmann, or at least her policies. She is aggressively pro-life, promises to abolish “Obamacare,” and has called for the military to draw up war plans to bomb Iran. But why aren’t conservative women supporting one of their own?
Iowa voters-- both men and women-- told the Des Moines Register that they just don’t see Bachmann as up to the job, no matter her gender. Bachmann was considered the least knowledgeable on the issues of any candidate running for president tied with Gingrich in the Register’s latest poll on the question of who would be least likely to bring real change."

And another quote:

"But more detrimental to Bachmann than the prominent GOP women who are not endorsing are the everyday Republican women who say they’re not voting for her. In Iowa State University’s latest poll of likely caucus-goers, Bachmann was again polling in the single digits, with slightly fewer women (7.2%) supporting her than men (7.3%). Ron Paul, on the other hand, had a huge gender gap, with far more women (31%) supporting his candidacy than men (22%.)"

It's an interesting article and worth reading:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/post/where-did-michele-bachmanns-mama-grizzlies-go/2012/01/03/gIQA7Ot4YP_blog.html

Interestingly though some still believe she wouldn't be suited to the role as President because the country is not yet ready for a female president. An interesting sentiment, I wonder what the national attitude would be to such a thing. I personally do not see why in this age such a thing would be counter productive.

All this is food for thought, however one thing I am sure of is that Michelle Bachman is definitely not the sort of person who should be President of the United States. So I hope to see her dropping out of the race very soon.

Sources:


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/70821a32-362a-11e1-a3fa-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1iUtnftRB