First round is tomorrow -- very serious business. While I wasn't too thrilled with Sarkozy's dissing of Netanyahu, I think he is the best choice (and I suspect he was doing some sucking up to Obama with that exchange). Unfortunately, it doesn't look good for him, but, it's possible that the apparent popularity of Marine LePen -- ew, may I say -- will help in the second round. This is what happened, after all, in 2002.
For now, though, it seems likely Sarko will not get a second term. I agree with this assessment:
Next to this, and other necessary measures – not to mention a willingness to act in Libya and the Ivory Coast among other places – do I truly care that Sarkozy has a questionable taste in women, wristwatches and restaurants? It takes the supercilious graduates of ENA, the incestuous elite government school that gives France most of her politicians, mandarins, top bosses, and a couple of star editors, to sniff at the “bling” appetites of an energetic immigrant’s son made good. (The difference between the taste of the London rioters and that of Sarko is more a question of degree than nature.) In France, the sociology of Left and Right has switched. Most of Sarkozy’s ministers come from humble backgrounds, which constantly get thrown in their faces, while the irony of this coming from the Parisian Left is never pointed out.
Although I come from a Socialist French political family, I liked and still like Sarko. He may not be as agreeable a man as François Hollande to spend a boozy evening with, but his values of physical and political courage, of hard work, of plain-speaking; his love for France; his sense of duty to our history, our allies and the values of the Resistance resonate far more with what I was brought up to respect than Hollande’s envious, hidebound, little-France rhetoric. But I understand I may be in a minority here.
(Emphasis mine.) Sound familiar? Rather like the switching of Left and Right in North America. (Most of the NDP supporters I know are terribly class conscious.)
Comments
I established that BEFORE the comments about Netanyahu, Obama rounded on Sarkozy about France's vote in favour of admitting Palestine to UNESCO. Prior to the vote, France had been lobbying against the Palestinians and they changed their minds at the last minute without telling the U.S.
Obama thus challenged Sarkozy which would have been uncomfortable for him. It is entirely plausible that Sarkozy switched the topic to Netanyahu in order to avoid accounting for his backstabbing.
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