Message In a Bottle

By Seth Goldschlager

A friend has asked me send an SOS to you all.

She is an ‘ecrivain public’, a specialist who writes documents for people who need help in composing all sorts of texts for official or even personal business.

The problem is that she had a visitor who talked about a speech he wanted written but he did not leave his name, address or telephone number.

If any of you can identify the person from the text, please let me know by sending me an email at my address at the bottom of this column. I have an idea about who dictated this but I really can’t believe it could be true….

‘Frenchwomen, Frenchmen

It has been almost ten years that I have had the solemn responsibility of representing you and assuring the future of our nation.

I am asking you today for your support for another five years.

I have considered the challenges facing our country and believe that France today needs more than ever experience in leadership to confront its problems and seize its opportunities to maintain its position as one of the leading nations in the world.

In our internal affairs, we must assure an equal future for all of our citizens, from whatever background they come from and whatever conditions they find themselves living today. We must break the cycle of despair and create the means for them to succeed in education and in their professional and personal lives through equal opportunities. And we must do so in a way to encourage people of different races and religions to respect each other and judge each other as individuals rather than as stereotyped groups.

In our economy, we must help our enterprises at home and in their global competition to benefit from the talent our nation represents in so many sectors of business. We have the ideas and the people. We need to provide them with the ability to compete so that the best of our youth no longer feels compelled to go abroad to succeed as entrepreneurs.

Internationally, our country faces challenges on all continents. How can we play the role that is ours in contributing to peace, security, and justice that reflect our values worldwide?

These are huge challenges that the President of the Republique must face.

Age in this context is an advantage, and not an impediment. Because age equals experience which other candidates simply do not have. Indeed, at a time when France must encourage its ‘seniors’ to work longer and retire later, what better signal to send than to re-elect an experienced senior to guide the country to new achievements?

I am sure that I can count on you.’

Any ideas on who wrote this will be appreciated so that the ‘ecrivain public’ can return it to the originator.