As his country inches toward rejection of his beloved E.U. Constitution, Jacques Chirac held a televised "town hall" type meeting to discuss the issue with young people. As Christopher Caldwell reports, it's not working. In fact, people didn't even watch. How funny is this little cultural factoid?
Opposition to the E.U. constitution actually rose after his intervention, according to overnight polling--from 53 percent to 56 percent. What may have been most unnerving to Chirac is how few people felt they needed to hear his views on France's most important constitutional debate in almost 50 years. According to the daily Libération, the broadcast got only 7.4 million viewers nationwide, nosing past Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider, which got 6.4 million on another channel.
Ah, the sophistication of the French.
Posted by dan at April 25, 2005 12:57 PM