A President France Deserves?

Everyone’s favorite “walrus-moustachioed” anti-globalist has set his eyes on high public office. French sheep-farmer/McDonald’s hater Jose Bove has declared he’ll be running for President of France.

The jolly martyr

While Monsieur Bove enjoys great popularity among the anti-capitalist left around the world, we should remember that that popularity is intense but very narrow. As Sebastian Mallaby has recently pointed out, the popularity of American and capitalist icons has never been greater – even in France itself:

In 1999 a French farmer named Jose Bove ransacked a McDonald’s and became a hero of the anti-globalization left; last year a plastic Ronald McDonald was discovered dangling from a French bridge, a ball and chain fastened to an ankle.

And yet, despite such indignities, Ronald’s clownish smile wins out. McDonald’s profit in France is second only to its profits in its home territory.