While in Paris last week I happened to attend this event, a political café organized by Jean Sarkozy, the French president's son and now an elected official himself:
He launched the first in a series of meetings called “jeudis jeunes” - “young Thursdays” - in a cafe where young conservatives were invited to question prominent government members and other celebrity guests.
“The idea is to show young people that you can get involved in politics,” said Jean, 21, referring to youths who did not feel attracted to the left. “It irritates me that when you are young it’s always easier to carry the banner of the left or the extreme left. But it is possible for young people to have other convictions.”
With his family connections, Jean, one of two sons from Sarkozy’s first marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli, the daughter of a Corsican chemist, need only click his fingers to summon a star speaker. The first on his list was Rama Yade, the undersecretary for human rights and, at 31, the youngest minister in Sarkozy’s “rainbow government”.
“Thank you for coming in such numbers,” he told the adoring student audience.
“I know it’s for Rama, not for me,” he added, drawing a laugh from the crowd, “and it’s a terrible blow to my ego.”
Indeed, a lot of the people there did come for Jean but left mesmerized by Rama, an immigrant from Senegal, who, at age 31, is France's youngest cabinet minister. The speech she gave about her own life story and her political views was tremendously impressive. She reminded me of a conservative Michaëlle Jean, with impeccable speech delivery, urbane looks and a generally sunny disposition. She is a conservative of whom we can be proud. Believe me, this is a woman to watch. I wish there were more like her.
