A fine piece of populist electioneering aimed at his home market might well be the view from Davos of President Sarkozy’s key note speech at the 2010 World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Animated and expressive the French President metaphorically laid into the bankers who, in his view, nearly brought about global financial collapse in 2008. His speech, which drew only muted applause at its close, was big on gestures, platitudes and to some extent, vision.
But if any of the Davos delegates, financiers included, expected policy measures then they left the conference without anything substantive.
Reading from a prepared speech transcript the President worked well with his pace and pausing strategy. Emphasis and intonation worked in tandem. Rhetorical questions and lists featured heavily in a speech that conveyed both the focus of the speaker and the passion for his subject.
A speech for his home market; not the Davos audience.
