by Patrick J. Buchanan

“I was really shocked when I read the Financial Times this morning that one of the candidates was pleading for more national champions and more protectionist action,” huffed Neelie Kroes, competition commissioner of the European Union.

“It is outdated to talk about national champions. It is outdated to talk about protectionism.”

Well, these ideas may be outdated at the EU Commission that sits in Brussels. But they are making a comeback in France, where Nicolas Sarkozy, the leading candidate for the French presidency, has emerged as an unabashed economic patriot.