Le jour 2 de Sarko

First, housecleaning.

VILLEPIN RESIGNS AS FRENCH PRIME MINISTER
PARIS, May 16, 2007 (AFP)

AFTER 12 YEARS, CHIRAC BIDS EMOTIONAL FAREWELL TO FRANCE
PARIS, May 16, 2007 (AFP)

[Polite applause. Pause. Barely surpressed glee. Pause. Smile.]

We cannot but be happy at the exits of the two most baleful magouilleurs in French government, one a chauvinist, a screamer, an aureate twit, and prime minister, the other a corrupt and corrupting party boss without a party, a cheat, a liar (Supermenteur !), a shameless and tireless self-promoter and president of the Republic.

Good-bye. Good luck. Good riddance.

SARKOZY, VOWING CHANGE, SUCCEEDS CHIRAC AS PRESIDENT

PARIS May 16, 2007 (AFP) - In a symbolic handover of powers, Chirac passed on the launch codes to France's nuclear arsenal and briefed Sarkozy on current agenda items before being driven from the Elysee palace for the last time.

No, dear skimmer, not the boot to bum. A car is meant. A shiny black sedan of French make at the end of a long red carpet.

HIT THE ROAD JACK AND DON'T YOU COME BACK NO MO' NO MO' NO MO'
Sarko Escorts Jack -- At A Brisk Clip -- To His Waiting Ride
[Photo credit: L. Blevennec © Service photographique de la Présidence de la République]

A 21-gun salute rang out from the Invalides esplanade across the river Seine, as the official results of Sarkozy's election victory were read out to an audience of invited guests in the palace's ornate main reception hall.

CÉRÉMONIE D'INSTALLATION DU PRÉSIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY
[Photo credit: L. Blevennec © Service photographique de la Présidence de la République]

Sarko then gave a brief investiture speech enumerating the woes of France in eleven (by our count) "imperatives" imposed on him by the French people.

• Imperative of bringing the French together because France is strong only when she is united, and today she needs to be strong to take up the challenges confronting her.
  

• Imperative of keeping promises and honouring commitments because trust has never been as shaken, as fragile.
  

• A moral imperative because never has the crisis of values been as deep, because never has the need for people to regain their bearings been as strong.
  

• Imperative of restoring the value of work, of effort, of merit, of respect, because these values underpin human dignity and requirement for social progress.
  

• Imperative of tolerance and opening-up because never have intolerance and sectarianism been so destructive, because never has it been so necessary for all women and all men of goodwill to pool their talents, their intellectual skill, their ideas for conceiving the future.
  

• Imperative of change because never has inertia been so dangerous for France as in this world in flux where everyone strives to change faster than the others, where any delay can be fatal and quickly becomes irretrievable.
  

• Imperative of security and protection because it has never been so necessary to fight the fear of the future and feeling of vulnerability which discourage initiative and risk-taking.
  

• Imperative for order and authority because we have too often given in to disorder and violence from which those who suffer the greatest are the most vulnerable and humble.
  

• Imperative to deliver results because the French have had enough of nothing in their daily lives ever improving, because the French have had enough of their lives becoming ever tougher, ever harder, because the French have had enough of sacrifices being imposed on them with no result.
  

• Imperative of justice because for a very long time so many French have not felt such a strong sense of injustice, and had the feeling that the sacrifices weren't fairly shared, that everyone did not have equal rights.
  

• Imperative of breaking with past behaviours, ways of thinking and intellectual conformism because never have the problems to be resolved been so completely new.

A sure sign that something's different, both Sarko's investiture speech and his follow-on memorial speech at Bois de Boulogne are posted to the official Web site of the Présidence de la République -- in ENGLISH! With English-titled links on the home page! Ou-la-la ! Somebody's going to be upset.

PFFT (What is this?): Clean house 3½ | Rayonnement français 0