David Seaton's News LinksIn the article below the Guardian's Jonathan Steele has said out loud what many are now beginning to think: That world conservatism's new "great white hope" is just an impostor and a jerk.
Steel compares him to Berlusconi.
I think its totally unfair to compare him to Berlusconi, however... Unfair to Berlusconi.
Il Cavalieri is, after all, a great (if crooked) business man, an imaginative (if unethical) entrepreneur who has created an enormous (if sinister) media empire and owns a wonderful (no caveat here) football club, FC Milan. Berlusconi just dabbles in politics to keep himself out of jail.
Berlusconi is, of course a horrible man, but he is the real thing, nothing fake about him. Sarkozy is a fraud and this will presently become evident to even the dullest observers. I predict that soon he will be a severe embarrassment to the French and even to Europe in general. DS
The French Berlusconi - Guardian
Abstract: Six months in office, and Nicolas Sarkozy has not ceased being an embarrassment on the world stage. From his first appearance at the G8 summit in Germany, where he foolishly called for more delay on Kosovo - a move that courtesy forced his new partners to support - to his fawning visit to Washington this week, France's president is making waves for the wrong reasons. Headstrong and unreflective, Sarkozy risks making an ass of himself.(...) At home, Sarkozy's rush to act first and think afterwards is as notable as on foreign policy. So are his arrogance and bad temper. He demeaned his friend and jogging partner, the prime minister François Fillon, by calling him an "aide". He shouted at his press secretary, publicly accusing him of being a "child" and an "imbecile". Where is the dignity of the office? Where is a sense of the responsibilities a president carries? Where is the subtlety needed by anyone who wants to negotiate a new deal with France's public service workers? Foreign policy was almost absent from the presidential campaign. So why race around like a bull in an international china shop when you were elected to implement a domestic agenda? The glamour of foreign summits is seductive. But even in a global television age European leaders are still judged by what they do at home rather than abroad. Stick to that, Sarkozy. Ground yourself for a while. Otherwise, you may do worse than Tony Blair. You could become the gaffe-prone European whom your colleagues roll their eyes at when you turn your back - the new Berlusconi, the clown they grimly have to grin and bear. READ IT ALL
1 comment:
The bourgeoise were let down. I mean Ségolène Royal was the alternative. Neither of these could fill what is becoming the obviously massive void left by Chirac. The man who had the balls to defy the US on Iraq BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!
Sarkozy fanices himself another Blair, shows just show how miniscule his ambition for himslef, and for France really is.
France is in serious trouble, and I fear that France, not Germany or the UK is the nation most likely to cause the EU project to stall.
Now he is even playing games with Trichet, trying to get him to cut rates, right when inflation (not the rising Euro) is the biggest danger.
France stands to gain nothing from the Sarkozy presidency, except of course supporting America on some other forlorn hope mission in some oil rich country.
Hardly a new departure, whichever way you spin it.
What has France to lose from supporting a war on Iran?
Nothing for now, the agreed oil piplelines with Russia via the route NORTH of the Caspian (a route the US and China did not favour but the EU did) are not laid yet, in 10 years though expect EU 'foreign policy' to be very different.
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