Sarko's in, How Will France Deal?

Sarkozy is not Jean-Marie LePen, but he is "tough on crime" as they say in the states, and generally critical of the current state of France's immigration policies (despite being the son of a Hungarian immigrant). The largely immigrant suburbs have already said how they plan to respond. It's clear that things will likely get worse in France before they get better, but the reason why Sarkozy is not as loved by the right as LePen was has to do with his involvement with the formation of the Conseil français du culte musulman, an organization founded to give French Muslims a political voice.

As I've said before, the level of violence and unrest in France, while the result of deeper causes that need to be addressed, must be dealt with on the surface as well. I'm open minded about Sarkozy, and hopeful that he will bring the hammer down on the riots and violence, but worried that his attitude and inflammatory talk of "racaille" will undermine more cool-headed efforts to deal with the social problems that have caused these riots in the first place. He has made efforts to reach out to the Muslim community, and if there is ever a hope if assimilating Muslims into France, he will need there help.