At home, he was better at campaigning than governing. The candidate who had vowed to mend the "social fracture" bequeathed worse public finances and deeper social divisions. His disillusioned people lost faith both in the European ideal (voting against a draft constitution in 2005) and largely in their own governing class—not least, in him. He won a second presidential term by a fluke landslide: a first-round upset meant that his opponent was a far-right extremist, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
在法國，他更擅長競選而不是執政。 這位發誓要修補“社會裂痕”的候選人留下了更糟糕的公共財政和更深層次的社會分裂。他的幻滅的人民不僅對歐洲理想失去了信心(2005年投票反對憲法草案)，而且很大程度上對他們自己的統治階級失去了信心——尤其是對他。希拉克的第二次總統競選僥幸地獲得了一場大勝：首輪失利意味著他的對手讓-瑪麗·勒龐是極右翼極端分子。
His one-time reformist zeal mutated into a fear of upsetting the status quo. By the end of his ill-starred second term, Mr Chirac was the Fifth Republic's most unpopular president (though François Hollande later beat that dismal record). It was easy to see why. The country was suffering from what he himself admitted was a "profound malaise", playing a humiliating second fiddle to a resurgent Germany in European politics. His nadir came when he lay low for a week while rioting engulfed the big cities in 2005. He was prone to petulance and rudeness in official meetings, bore mammoth grudges, and took some spectacularly bad gambles, notably calling a parliamentary election in 1997 which the opposition Socialists won easily.
他曾經的改革熱情變成了打破現狀的恐懼。在他不幸的第二任期結束時，希拉克成為第五共和國最不受歡迎的總統(盡管弗朗索瓦·奧朗德后來打破了這一糟糕記錄)。原因很簡單。這個國家正遭受著他自己所承認的“嚴重的弊病”，在歐洲政壇上，德國的復興讓法國顏面掃地。2005年，當騷亂席卷各大城市時，他潛伏了一個星期，陷到了人生最低谷。希拉克在正式會議上脾氣暴躁，舉止粗魯，而且滿是怨言，希拉克還進行了一些非常糟糕的賭博，尤其是在1997年舉行議會選舉時，反對黨社會黨輕松獲勝。
Much of his energy was devoted to dodging impertinent questions, of which there were many. In his 18-year stint running Paris he bloated the city payroll (particularly with jobs for party workers). He threw huge, lavish parties for his supporters, while cultural notables and other influential friends gained chic municipal apartments. Hence the caustic slogan from the 2002 election, "Vote for the crook, not the fascist". The stink rose with him. Even the most world-weary could not shrug away the stories of bundles of cash, foreign bank account sand murky quid pro quos.
他的很多精力都用來躲避很多無禮的問題。在他管理巴黎的18年里，希拉克增加了市政人員的工資(特別是政黨的工人)。他為自己的支持者舉辦了盛大奢華的派對，而文化名人和其他有影響力的朋友則住進了時髦的市政公寓。然后就有了2002年的刻薄的競選口號“給騙子投票，而不是法西斯”。他的壞名聲越來越大。即使是最厭世的人，也無法對成捆的現金、外國銀行賬戶和暗箱操作的交易不聞不問。
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