A Royal Lesson for Hillary?

Nob

ody likes to hear couples argue in public, so France's presidential front-runner Segolene Royal has a delicate problem — her partner and the father of her four children, Francois Hollande, is a policy wonk, and not all of his policy positions are the same as hers. It gets a little more complicated, though, because Hollande is also the leader of the Socialist Party whose nomination Royal recently won. His deft behind-the-scenes management of rival factions prevented ugly splits during the party's hotly contested primaries — the holding of which earned him plaudits, since the party's nomination had previously simply gone to its leader, which would have made him the presidential candidate. His sacrifice is substantial, since in the event of a Socialist sweep, Royal won't even be able to appoint the extremely capable Hollande as prime minister without provoking accusations of nepotism. Even as the stoic Hollande keeps his eyes on the prize, though, he's not avoiding policy battles — even with his partner.

This week Hollande promised that in the event of a leftist election sweep, tax cuts passed by the current conservative government would be rolled back in order to start cutting France's enormous debt. Royal promptly begged to differ, noting her presidential platform contained no income tax increases. She argues that France's lofty tax scale already leaves average workers feeling their hard work is being penalized, and raising taxes could slow consumption, a main motor of French economic growth. But as in any good domestic spat, Hollande wasn't going to let his partner have the last word: He retorted Wednesday by noting the right's tax cuts had largely favored the wealthy to justify reiterating his pledge to reverse them. He tried to soften that blow — but only made his squeeze look ill-informed — by noting that the resulting increases would only effect around 200,000 people whose monthly take-home pay exceeds $4,300. Besides, Hollande seemed to sneer, the proposal has long been part of the official program of the party his candidate-cohabitant is supposed to be humbly representing.

But Royal has not gotten this far in the testosterone mosh pit of French politics to accept the rebuke, especially not from a guy with whom she has to share a bathroom. On Friday, she reiterated her promise to refrain from tax hikes and other measures "that discourage working," suggesting instead that the debt may be tackled by stiffening capital gains or corporate profit taxes. Royal then landed Hollande a blow square to the political shorts by tapping party heavyweight Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who contested the primary against her, to lead a study on tax reform. In doing so, Royal not only turned to a recent foe to politically smite her life partner, she also handed economic expert Strauss-Kahn a strategic campaign function that could leave him ideally placed for a prime minister nod should the left triumph. Who is swinging it now, Francois?

For now, Hollande appears outmaneuvered, exposed — some say — as a capable yet cornered party leader struggling to remain relevant. And who knows how the fallout from the kafuffle affected the domestic bliss of the Hollande-Royal household. To protect their relationship, the couple could learn from American political pugilists James Carville and Mary Matalin, who keep things interesting at home by earning their keep doing battle for opposite sides. Perhaps Hollande ought to be advising Royal's probable conservative foe, Nicolas Sarkozy? And there's got to be a lesson somewhere in all of this for Hillary Clinton.