French voters can separate scandal from politics | Melissa Bounoua | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
French voters can separate scandal from politics
Dominique Strauss-Kahn's sex life has moved into folklore – but it won't stop women voting for him in any presidential campaign
Melissa Bounoua
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 May 2011 14.18 BST
Is Dominique Strauss-Kahn, current head of the International Monetary Fund, a "queutard" – literally, a man who makes extensive use of his intimate parts? In any case, that's a talent for which he won an award last Tuesday at the satirical prize ceremony "Les Gerard" (the French political equivalent to the Razzy awards).
This dubious honour wasn't only based on rumours. Strauss-Kahn (widely known as DSK) had an affair with Piroska Nagy, a Hungarian economist, while working at the IMF in 2008. Both the IMF and a law firm did investigations and came to the conclusion that he never used his power to sleep with his collaborator. At the time, he was still married to Anne Sinclair, a famous French TV anchor. He eventually had to publicly apologise.
That wasn't the only scandal. There was a fuss last year when a young French author, Tristane Banon, described her encounter with him. She explained that she had interviewed him for a book about public figures and their missteps, and claimed she had to fight him off physically. She said she hadn't made a complaint at the time, because she didn't want to be "the girl who had a problem with a politician".
This side of DSK's life has almost become folklore in France. In 2009, humourist Stéphane Guillon even dedicated his comedy slot on the popular morning radio show La Matinale de France Inter (the French equivalent for Radio 4) to this particular side of the politician: "Exceptional measures have been taken at Radio France in order not to awaken the Beast. Here are the measures, as detailed by the trade unions. I quote: 'In order to guarantee the safety of the personnel, female workers are asked to wear long, unrevealing and anti-sex clothes'." This made Guillon famous, and almost got him fired. Unsurprisingly, DSK was not amused and expressed it bluntly when he entered the studio 20 minutes later.
"The great seducer" – that's how the French press politely refer to Strauss-Kahn. Anne Sinclair, his wife of 20 years, appears to deal with his reputation with surprising pragmatism. In an interview with L'Express magazine, she explained: "It's important for a politician to be able to seduce." She also wrote a blog post in 2008, right after DSK's affair with the IMF's economist, claiming this kind of incident can happen to a couple, and that they still love each other like at the early beginning. The post has since been deleted.
If DSK runs for president – he is a very serious contender – rumours will weigh on his campaign. I wouldn't be surprised if some of his collaborators tried to convince him not to, scared of lurid headlines. Every detail of his life is already under close scrutiny: a recent photograph showing him getting into a Porsche led to what media called the "Porschegate". It made a disastrous impression on public opinion, in a climate of low purchasing power and economic rigor.
Agnès Poirier, a French political journalist based in London, argued he's just French, a womaniser among many others who does better than most politicians. After all, former president Jacques Chirac was nicknamed "3-minutes-douche-comprise", literally "3-minutes-shower-included", as his driver reports in his book 25 Years With Him – more recently, Nicolas Sarkozy was mentioned in Gossip Girl as a "bad kisser".
Will DSK's reputation matter in the election? Do we, female voters, care about male politicians' sex lives? We all heard the stories in the news, and it is true that he might not be really popular among feminists. But the answer is no. As old-fashioned as it might seem, French voters tend to judge politicians according to their projects. What we think of them as men is another story. In 2007, nobody blinked at Sarkozy's failing marriage. Nor did we ever care about Chirac's alleged cheating on his wife Bernadette.
I can imagine it would be different in the US and UK, despite it happening a lot. The Monica Lewinsky scandal was taken really seriously, had important political consequences and quickly spoiled public opinion towards former president Clinton.
Personally, I doubt this side of DSK's life would have any influence on how he would run the country. Maybe it's idealistic of me, but a presidential position would put Strauss-Kahn under the spotlight even more – and he knows it. I am not a member of the Socialist party but I could vote for DSK. He's a key member of a major political party, was finance minister, deputy, a political representative in Sarcelles (one of the poorest city in France in the suburb of Paris), helped the government pass crucial measures and managed the IMF during one of the worst financial crises our modern economy has been through. "L'Americain", as some French call him, would be a legitimate candidate. We will have to keep an eye on him. But not in his bedroom.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Reasonable and balanced. Certainly I felt the same way...
DSK: Sex maniac or legitimate presidential candidate?
Linear Mode
