NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
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What is Sarko up to? The French may not love Jack, but they love his delusional politique de grandeur. Obviously Sarko has different plans for American-French relations. Perhaps he figures better to come clean with the French that if elected there will be a national attitude adjustment toward America.

SARKOZY LOOKS TO CLOSER TIES AFTER BUSH ERA

WASHINGTON September 13, 2006 (FT) - A bomb scare near the White House on Tuesday delayed a speech by Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s interior minister, but only served to strengthen his personal pro-American, pro-Israel message while burnishing his presidential credentials overseas.

... Mr Sarkozy, front-runner to become the right’s presidential candidate next year, mentioned President George W. Bush only briefly and France’s Jacques Chirac not at all. In fact the interior minister seemed to distance himself from his own president, speaking of French "arrogance" and calling for a new era in transatlantic relations.

Welcoming his critics’ attacks on his pro-American stance, Mr Sarkozy declared: "I’m not a coward. I am proud of this friendship and proclaim it gladly."

... "I would like to state how close I feel to Israel," he said, departing from the text of his speech. He said Israel’s response in Lebanon might be considered "clumsy and disproportionate" but the "truth" was that Israel had a right to defend itself against the "aggressor" Hizbollah. "We are by your side," he said.

Hosted by the French American Foundation in the elegant setting of the National Society of the Daughters of the Revolution, Mr Sarkozy was preaching to the converted. But still he went to great lengths to describe the nations’ historic ties and French admiration, if touched with envy, for America’s "brilliant successes".

We wonder if the French will open up the polls to Americans in their upcoming election, as some Euros only thought right America do in 2004. The argument back then was that whatever America does affects everyone, so everyone deserved a say, i.e., a vote. Or perhaps the French will keep their elections to themselves arguing France doesn't matter much.

* See Note 3. Pierre Lellouche, deputy of the 9th arrondissement of Paris, traveling with Sarko, said Dominique de Villepin's veto threat against the United States in the Iraqi crisis was "the most monumental diplomatic stupidity [connerie] of the last fifty years." (op. cit.)

PFFT (What is this?): Washington play 3½ | France play 0-¼ | Rayonnement français 2¼