At a time when all of France stands united against the threat of terror and mourns the dead resulting from a cowardly attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, one leader seeks to take advantage of the turmoil and rise above the commotion to become the Fifth Republic’s next great leader.

The question remains whether or not she can do so while keeping a safe distance from her more xenophobic and racist father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Marine Le Pen, who has taken the reins from her father and become the figurehead for the French far-right party Front National, has undertaken a campaign to calm down the rhetoric once associated with her political affiliation in a bid to bring in more voters – and it’s worked.

Indeed, Le Pen’s party has taken both French Senate seats, rallied support in municipal elections, and even made a strong showing in the European Parliament. 

Some believe Le Pen herself is favored to win the presidency in 2017.The Telegraph cited a recent opinion poll showing her as the recipient of 30 percent of the vote, sending her straight into the second round.

The issues she promotes as important to the party have resonated with the people of France in recent years as immigration is seen as an ever-growing threat to the French identity and a burden on the Republic’s social services.

Nicholas Sarkozy recognized this during his run for office. Prior to the election in 2007, Sarkozy authored an immigration reform bill, and the media and his party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), boasted of the tough stance taken the new legislation.

In 2012, Sarkozy again called for tougher immigration laws, as reported by First Post.

Now, Le Pen will surely capitalize on similar sentiments of promoting French culture and deriding others seen as imposing and unwilling or unable to assimilate.

Furthermore, the people of France are growing uneasy about losing their diplomatic and economic prestige to neighboring Germany, whose promotion of austerity within the European Union has especially angered the financial experts in La Defense already coping with slow, practically nonexistent economic growth.

The time to strike for Le Pen is now. Current president Francois Hollande is seen as weak, apologetic, and a result of France’s ENA-groomed political elite. In addition, his approval rating was abysmal before the attack, hovering around 15 percent as France24 noted, and the media has made little effort to rally around the president.

Some may remember that American president George W. Bush received a tremendous outpouring of support immediately following 9/11. The absence of this effect in France may be cultural, but it’s more likely that Hollande is truly unpopular with a fed-up French Republic.

But just as Bush found out, that support can fade in a matter of months. The public conscious is fleeting and fickle, to say the least. What may resonate with the people now will bore them soon – and what resonates now, I predict, is nationalism.

As Napoleon the First once famously said, “A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him.” 

Marine Le Pen would do well to emulate the famous leader now and rally her people. While the battlefield is different, the ambitions remain the same. If Le Pen is to garner enough votes to exit the first round of the 2017 election, she will need to captivate her audience and invoke nationalist fervor.

The fleeting memory of the public political conscious could very well be her downfall, however. 

Le Pen’s policies may seem good now, but the people are in shock and are prone to reactionary judgments. Hollande could weather the storm and become revered by his people.

In one year’s time, her policies may very well have taken on a new image in the public eye – one of xenophobia and racism, reminiscent of her father who suffered a historic defeat against Jacques Chirac during the 2002 elections.

With a weak economy, immigration concerns, and a frightened Fifth Republic, Marine Le Pen is set to make, at the very least, a strong showing in the 2017 elections.