Minutes into his acceptance speech, Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the "anger, anxiety and doubt" among people who voted for his rival Marine Le Pen. By addressing her supporters so directly and taking their concerns so seriously, the new French president demonstrated that he knows his historic triumph has not crushed populism -- it has merely kept it at bay.
Macron's margin of victory, 66% to 34%, was decisive. His achievement, from the creation of a new party to the Elysee within a year, is extraordinary. Centrism, in all its forms internationalism, liberalism, Europeanism, Blairism, social democracy -- is back, it seems. In fact, it never really went away -- it's just that Brexit in the UK and Donald Trump in the US were such unexpected, disruptive and spectacular victories for populist causes that their noise drowned out the centrist background music.
Macron's victory has not eliminated at a stroke all the issues that Le Pen was able to convert into votes: immigration, terrorism, unemployment and identity.
Macron never held a political office before. Now he is ... Well, the saga continues.
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