France's President Nicolas Sarkozy gets in to his car after making his New Year wishes speech to civil servants. on January 12, 2012 in Lille, northern France.
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Whatever the political impact of the Toulouse killings, it is likely too late in the game for Sarkozy to pull back from his high-risk shift to the right. That gamble will result in either a resounding repudiation or a spectacular comeback confirming Sarkozy's status as the most magisterial French politician of his generation--abroad and at home.