[Marxism] From the political fashion department: French advice for John Kerry in Britain

["Jurriaan Bendien" <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 LONDON, March 27 (AFP) - US presidential hopeful John Kerry needs to stop
acting so French if he wants to win the race for the White House, a
French-born, US-based consultant and "medical anthropologist" says.
 "Kerry's trouble is that he is simply not the common man," Clotaire
Rapaille, who's been contacted by Kerry's campaign team for advice, told the
Sunday Telegraph newspaper. In the wake of the US-led war on Iraq, which
France opposed, the Democratic hopeful's command of the French language,
plus his background in France and Switzerland, could be a real liability
among US voters, he said. "Forget the French connection," he advised.

"The French are thinkers - 'I think, therefore I am'. Americans want
somebody who is going to take action. All this association of Kerry with
thinking too much and nuance and five-sentence answers is off-code." He
added: "American culture is an adolescent culture... In America, you have to
be the common man, be able to make people think you are the common man."
Rapaille, author of the forthcoming book "Archetypes of the President,"
specialises in psychoanalysing cultures. His expertise is sought out by
major US corporations, and he's often interviewed in US media on mass
culture.

Besides dropping the French connection, Rapaille suggested that Kerry take
fewer holidays, start giving "one word or two" answers to questions - and do
something about his wardrobe. "Go to K-Mart, buy jeans and cowboy boots...
Dress like you are going into a bar in Kansas to drink from the bottle," he
said.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=25&story_id=60
75

(expatica.com has more on the French elections)





_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism