As French voters look set to make a massive swing to the right in their upcoming presidential election (see our notes on the topic here and here), a group of frightened liberal protesters have decided to back a relatively surprising, if impossible, presidential candidate in 2017, Barack Obama.
And, lest you thing this is a joke, a quick walk around Paris even reveals campaign posters for "Obama17" plastered all around the city.
The group of protesters who launched the effort to bring "hope and change" to France are urging French citizens to visit their website to sign a petition to convince Obama to enter the race. They figure that 1 million signatures should do the trick.
Meanwhile, asked why they support Obama, protesters told ABC News they're looking for a candidate they "really admire" and "someone who could lead us to project ourselves in a bright future to give French people hope."
Why Obama? "Because he has the best resume in the world for the job," reads the website, which is in no way connected to Obama.
"At a time when France is about to vote massively for the extreme right, we can still give a lesson of democracy to the planet by electing a French President, a foreigner," reads the website in French.
A spokesperson for the group told ABC News Thursday morning, "We started dreaming about this idea two months before the end of Obama's presidency. We dreamed about this possibility to vote for someone we really admire, someone who could lead us to project ourselves in a bright future. Then, we thought, whether it's possible or not, whether or not he is French, we have to do this for real, to give French people hope ... Vive la République, Vive Obama, Vive la France and the U.S.A."
And while we have our doubts about the likelihood of this plan working out, might we suggest that Hillary Clinton would make a great candidate for a senior cabinet position in Obama's new administration.
Of course, while it's a genius plan, if we understand it correctly, there is just one minor problem...the French president needs to be, well, French.