Namibia Catches Sarkozy Fever!

One Namibian anyway:

Namibia: Our Nicolas Sarkozy Must Please Stand Up!
...
What is of interest to me as a political Namibian living in Paris and what largely informed my support for Sarkozy over the past four years is the model of politics that he represents.

First, Nicolas Sarkozy as the son of an immigrant, represents what should be possible in a democracy: we should not fear those who are not of our background when we share the Republican space.

Sarkozy's credo, which I think we should buy into as Namibians, has always been that the republic is one of recognition, hard work and merit.

Namibia won't elect a new president until 2009, but they could do worse than to model their choice after Sarkozy.

...Nicolas Sarkozy once remarked: "If I am elected President of the Republic, it means that I have deserved it".

As a statement it is banal or arrogant, depending on how you look at it, and anybody who stands for a presidential election and wins could lay claim to such a comment given what is normally invested in presidential campaigns.

However such a comment would have been less true of Sarkozy's rival candidate, Segolene Royal, who accidentally became a candidate for the Elysee after a few positive opinion polls.
...
Nicolas Sarkozy is elected with a mandate he can call his own and for that reason alone, when electing or choosing leaders, Nicolas Sarkozy's journey is indeed an extraordinary model for our politics.

After all, we don't want to sit with a leader who asks himself the awful question: what have I done to deserve being president of this country?

[Mark it: 5/11/07 - first blogged about Namibian presidential elections.]