Brussles Blues and France Says "Non"

Some takeaways from the French rejection of the EU constitution, which Agence Presse France called "a slap in the face to President Jacques Chirac and a potentially fatal setback to the continent's ambitious plans for deeper political union.:

It's hard to read whether the big turnout -- 70% -- or the landslide proportions of the "no" vote -- nearly 55% -- is a vote for a more socialist France or a more conservative France. The "no" vote came from both ends of the spectrum, as Socialists/leftists/labor fretted over cheaper labor in Eastern Europe suddenly having to be welcomed and conservatives worried about decreasing individual freedoms and increasing Muslimization in Europe.

For pan-Europeans who thought their amalgamated mess of a "nation" could stand up to the US' world dominance, the defeat is crushing. It shows Europe to be what it always has been, not what they would have it: different countries serving different self-centered interests.