think 43

October 19, 2014 thesundaytimes

Two women on both sides of the Atlantic – Marine Le Pen in France and Hillary Clinton in the United States – have emerged as strong contenders for the highest office in their country, the presidency. The Sunday Times looks at who they are and why they are the contenders to beat.

PHOTO: AFP PHOTO: BLOOMBERG Ms Marine Le Pen may have cleaned up the National Front’s crude racism and anti-Semitism that dominated when her Mrs Hillary Clinton speaking at a conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. Being a woman with the prospect of father Jean-Marie was in charge, but the party is still anti-immigration and anti-European Union. becoming the first female US president doesn’t hurt, though analysts say it is unlikely to be the focus of her campaign. Adding glam to It’s now or never for French far-right another Clinton run

of my life I tried to escape from world traditionally dominated by former Florida governor Jeb Bush – Says professor of American poli- that,’’ she said in 2011, when she old men in forbidding dark suits. the second son of former president tics at the University of Maryland was elected the National Front’s She is no pushover though. Her George H. W. Bush and brother of Irwin Morris: “What’s the benefit leader. public image is steely and she another ex-president, George W. to announcing early if people Ms Le Pen often tells her audi- speaks in an authoritative manner, Bush – and Kentucky senator Rand think you are already going to ence that she’s merely responding in a voice abraded by too many Paul. run? From a fund-raising stand- to the “call of fate” in entering the years of heavy smoking. Undoubtedly, her level of expe- point, there is no need. And if she political arena. That Joan of Arc, The fact that this twice-divorced rience trumps the competition’s. announces, people will focus their the French patriotic saint, is her mother of three has succeeded in Previously, when she sought the criticism on her.” Democratic nomination in 2008, party’s emblem is also consistent juggling family and public career is But there are other forces work- she was criticised for not having with the theme of nation before a big draw for French voters, partic- ing against Mrs Clinton, including enough foreign policy experience, self. ularly women. She comes across as being next in line after President but that changed after she became Obama. But rhetoric aside, Ms Le Pen is one of them, a modern French top envoy in President Barack “It’s very hard to follow a fiercely ambitious and a far more as- woman, tough yet vulnerable, beat- ing the odds. Obama’s first term. two-term fellow partisan presi- tute political player than her fa- “She was received well by the When she first appeared on dent,” says Prof Morris, explaining Jonathan Eyal ther. Melissa Sim American public and was regarded “You the Judge”, the top chat show that people seem to want change Europe Correspondent Convinced that the National US Correspondent as one of the most popular officials on French TV, no less than a quar- after a period of time. Front would be able to transform it- In Washington in the Obama administration,” ter of France’s population tuned in. Prof Hill adds that the current self into a mass movement only if says Prof Hill. nly a few years ago, she The National Front under her is Obama administration is not par- its brand was “detoxified”, she set Hillary is going to run, Hillary is go- Add to that her experience as struggled to get the still anti-immigration and anti- ticularly popular and as a Demo- out on a mission to cleanse it of the ing to win. senator for New York and her role minimum of 500 signa- European Union. It supports reserv- cratic candidate, she will be identi- crude racism and anti-Semitism Those were the bold predictions as First Lady and “she has a great fied with it. tures required to get ing jobs, welfare benefits and hous- offered last Tuesday by billionaire deal of experience”, he adds. O her name on the ballot which touched almost everything Furthermore, even as unemploy- ing for French citizens alone. A no- Warren Buffett, who said he is will- Being a woman with the pros- papers. her father did. table change is its anti-Muslim fo- ment falls, and stock markets rise, So, while her father once public- ing to wager money that former pect of becoming the first female voters seem pessimistic about the But today, Ms Marine Le Pen, cus; Ms Le Pen once notoriously president of the United States also ly complained that there were too US secretary of state Hillary Clin- economy and will be looking out the 46-year-old boss of France’s compared Muslims praying on the doesn’t hurt, though analysts say many blacks in the French national ton, 66, will be the next American for what she has to say on the sub- far-right National Front, has a good streets of French cities to the “occu- president. it is unlikely to be the focus of her football team and dismissed the ject. chance of being elected as her pation” of France by Nazi Germa- And while he is no political ana- campaign. Holocaust gas chambers as a “detail “Hillary Clinton’s ability to nav- country’s next president, according ny. lyst, he may be on the money, at Says Mr Jon Seaton, a managing of history”, she kept a close watch igate this bleak economic climate to the latest opinion polls. The formula seems to work. In least for now. partner at political consulting and on what she said publicly. But will be more critical to her success Her success in transforming the 2012 presidential election – the Many recent polls identify the public affairs firm East Meridian: “I there has been no outright disavow- as a presidential candidate than what used to be a fringe political first she contested – she pulled in former First Lady as the front-run- think the fact that she is female al of the views of the more extreme perceptions of her tenure as secre- movement of fascists and madcaps 6.4 million votes, or 18 per cent of ner among Democratic candidates may lend some historical signifi- elements of her party. the ballots cast. Last month, the cance to the campaign, but overall tary of state,” says political analyst into a disciplined vote-gathering who include Vice-President Joe Amy Walter in an article on politi- machine is little short of a miracle. Still, few doubt her dedication party won its first two seats in the Biden and Massachusetts senator I do not know that this translates to re-energising the National Front, French Senate. into actual votes.” cal website The Cook Political Re- It’s also proof that personality still Elizabeth Warren. port. tirelessly travelling the length and Recent popularity polls showed She already has the vote of liber- matters a great deal in politics. And political analysts believe In a speech in June, she out- breadth of France to recruit new her ahead of socialist President als, but has to work on getting Of course, it helped that the timing is right and competi- lined her plans for the Bill, Hillary members while firing up the party Francois Hollande and Mr Nicolas black Americans and middle-class throughout her life she enjoyed in- tion on either side of the aisle pos- and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, faithful. Sarkozy, a former president and white Americans on her side, say stant brand recognition in France: es little threat to Mrs Clinton. named for herself, her husband most likely candidate for the main- experts. her father, Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen, It helps in its rebranding that Says Professor Jeffrey Hill, chair and her daughter. While not offi- stream right-wing parties. They cite her comment of being founded the National Front in she is something of a novelty: a of the political science department cially a campaign speech, it hinted platinum blonde in a right-wing According to Dr Sylvain Crepon, “dead broke” after leaving the 1972, when Marine, his youngest at Northeastern Illinois University: White House in 2001 as a possible at where her priorities might lie – daughter, just celebrated her fourth a sociologist who studies the “If she doesn’t run this time and promoting early childhood educa- French far-right, the demographic indication that she is out of touch birthday. waits another four years, age and with the ground. tion, tackling economic inequality But, as Ms Le Pen has frequently base on which the National Front health might become a bigger is- and championing equal opportuni- depends has remained constant: When it comes to financial remarked, that was as much a liabil- MARINE LIFE sue. It’s now or never.” backing, Mrs Clinton has a leg up ties for women. “The small shopkeepers who are go- ity as an advantage, for her life was He says Mr Biden is probably on the competition, with her close On the international and securi- ing under because of the economic scarred by politics. í Born Marion Anne Perrine the closest Democratic contender, ties to Wall Street and support ty front, she is known to be more crisis and competition from the When she was eight years old, Le Pen on Aug 5, 1968, “but he was not successful the last from Hollywood, says professor of hawkish than Mr Obama. In her out-of-town hypermarkets, time” and was eliminated fairly politics Larry Sabato, director of new book Hard Choices, she says her family apartment was bombed to Jean-Marie Le Pen low-paid workers from the private by an assassin. While still in her and Pierette; quickly, unlike Mrs Clinton who the Centre for Politics at the Uni- that as secretary of state she had ad- sector and the unemployed.” lasted till the very end of the Dem- teens, she witnessed her parents’ universally known as Marine versity of Virginia. vocated providing military assist- Ms Le Pen’s genius consisted in ocratic presidential nomination in This gives her the luxury of not ance to the rebels fighting Syrian messy divorce, after Pierette, her adding to this solid constituency mother, ran off with the man writ- 2008. having to announce her candidacy leader Bashar Al-Assad – an idea re- í Studied law in university the votes she harvested among Mrs Clinton also comes up tops just yet, with analysts predicting jected by Mr Obama at that time. ing a biography of her father. Me- and practised criminal law France’s small provincial towns dia titillation reached a frenzy when pitted against possible Re- that the news will come early next briefly on graduation. and the housing estates on the out- publican candidates such as year. [email protected] when, in a subsequent bid to boost skirts of major cities. It is there that her income, her mother posed what Mr Crepon calls “the rural un- naked for Playboy magazine. í Joined the National Front in 1986, at the age of 18. derclass” now resides. ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE As a young lawyer, she found Few of these people go to herself cold-shouldered by others church, few of them believe in any of her profession because of her í In 2011, she was elected í Born Hillary Diane Rodham faculty member, and the Rose í Elected as the US senator for ideology, and few have roots in the to Dorothy and Hugh Rodham Law Firm in 1976. New York in 2000 and won father’s notoriety. “We remained party leader, succeeding her places where they now live; they the children of Le Pen and people father. on Oct 26, 1947; re-election in 2006. are the perfect electoral fodder for the eldest of three siblings, with would tend to make us guilty,” she Ms Le Pen. í Served as Arkansas’ First Lady two younger brothers. for 12 years from 1978, after í Contested and lost in the once said. As a result, she often end- í Twice divorced, from Mr To be sure, her success is not en- Mr Clinton became the state’s Democratic nomination for the ed up taking cases nobody wanted, Franck Chauffroy, a tirely assured. France’s two-round í Graduated from the governor. presidential ticket in 2008 to which included defending illegal businessman, and Mr Eric electoral system works against her. prestigious Wellesley College Mr Barack Obama, who went on immigrants, precisely those whom, Iorio, a local councillor. While she can clearly beat rivals in before entering Yale Law School to win the presidency. later in life, she would castigate as the first round, she may not survive í Became the nation’s First She has three children. in 1969; met her future France’s biggest problem. the second. Besides, much can Lady in 1993; drew criticism in husband Bill Clinton at Yale. her first term as First Lady for í Joined President Obama’s As the National Front grew in í Famous saying: “There are, change between now and the 2017 prominence, she left the Paris presidential election. having her own agenda because administration as secretary of of course, no tanks, there are í Married Mr Clinton in 1975; courts in 1998 and took over the Still, with the popularity of all she worked for liberal causes, state in 2009, leaving last year no soldiers, but it is their daughter Chelsea was born Front’s legal department. From mainstream French politicians now but also won many admirers for after earning herself the title of nevertheless an occupation” in 1980. there, it was only a matter of time in the doldrums, few observers her staunch support for women “most widely travelled” – December 2010, when before she became party leader. doubt that Marine Le Pen is the around the world and her secretary of state, having logged talking about France's “It’s amazing to see how destiny woman to beat. í Joined the University of commitment to children’s 351 days on the road and Muslim community. Arkansas Law School in 1975 as issues. visited 112 countries. can mock you sometimes: I find myself here, in politics, where most [email protected]