international intrigue

French President Nicolas Sarkozy Slags Off on Obama

In a development that will surely confuse conservative talking heads, who love to paint even the more conservative French as symbols for all that is lefty and wimpy in Europe, French president Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted in a Paris newspaper deriding President Barack Obama. From Politico:

Sarkozy, the piece speculates, got off to a bad start with Obama during last June’s visit to Paris, where the French president was displeased by both the “unflattering comparison between the physique” of the two men (Obama is much taller) and by the “adulation of the Bobo left” – not Sarkozy’s base – for the American. The piece also quotes a Sarkozy advisor, Alain Minc, expressing what it claims is Sarkozy’s true view of Obama in Le Parisien: “He’s a charmer, a conciliator, but I am not sure that he’s a strong leader in a crisis writing.”


Obama has been in power for a year, and he has already lost three special elections,” Sarkozy said to reporters. “Me, I have won two legislative elections and the EU election. What can one say I’ve lost?” This is a seemingly new direction for the relationship between the two leaders. They’ve seemed very chummy before this. What could have happened? To whom has he been talking lately? We’ll probably never know.

Sarko goes negative [Politico]

French President Nicolas Sarkozy Slags Off on Obama