Quote du Jour

From a New York Times editorial:

Labor leaders and students who have been striking, protesting and even rioting in France were quick to declare victory when President Jacques Chirac caved in and abandoned the youth-jobs law that the furor was all about. But even they were hard pressed to say what they had won.

. . . It would be comforting to say that the crisis might at least spur the French to re-examine their social conservatism. But they seem more interested now in the race to succeed Mr. Chirac. If Mr. Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal, the rising star of the left, really want to lead France, they might start by leveling with the French.