Fascist candidate humiliated again
By 
Somewhere, a man in Rio de Janeiro is crying softly into his caipirinha:
Emmanuel Macron won a second term as president of France, triumphing on Sunday over Marine Le Pen, his far-right challenger, after a campaign where his promise of stability prevailed over the strong temptation of an extremist lurch.
Ms. Le Pen conceded to Mr. Macron not long after the polls closed. His victory, which early polls project at 58.2 percent of the vote to Ms. Le Pen’s 41.8 percent, was much narrower than in 2017, when the margin was 66.1 percent to 33.9 percent for Ms. Le Pen.
The French do not generally love their presidents, and none had succeeded in being re-elected since 2002. Mr. Macron’s unusual achievement in securing five more years in power reflects his effective stewardship over the Covid-19 crisis, his rekindling of the economy, and his political agility in occupying the entire center of the political spectrum.
The fact that it was left to a neoliberal empty suit to beat fascism down is also a reminder that while multiparty democracy has its virtues it’s not a solution to the problem of “the most viable alternative to the reactionary party not being left-wing enough for my liking.” If you don’t have a majority the need to form coalitions with moderate and conservative liberals remains, whether the coalitions are assembled ex ante or ex post.
But while there’s nothing exciting about Macron winning per se, he did his most important job, and that’s no trivial thing.