Robert Novak: France's American Problem

Town Hall ^ | November 29, 2004 | Robert Novak [Creators Syndicate]

[quidnunc]

Paris – U.S. diplomats here respond to Jacques Chirac's continued Yankee-bashing following George W. Bush's re-election by saying the French president is out of step with his people, who are not nearly that anti-American. But thoughtful Frenchmen believe President Chirac is mining a deep vein of sentiment among fellow citizens that transcends President Bush.

During a week in Paris, I encountered none of the rudeness I had been warned to expect because of my nationality. However, the question goes beyond amenities to visitors. One French intellectual described anti-Americanism to me as "a cancer that is sweeping across the country." It may not be as deadly as cancer, but it surely is not healthy for France.

The chronic nature of French hostility toward the United States contradicts claims by Bush's domestic critics that his unilateral policies caused deterioration of Franco-American relations. It is less the U.S. with a French problem than France burdened with a serious American problem.

On his recent visit to London, Chirac pressed for "multipolarity": a return to international rivalries that produced the carnage of the 20th century. He also suggested there was no point trying to repair his country's difficulties with Washington and taunted British Prime Minister Tony Blair because "our American friends" do not "pay back favors." Mocking Donald Rumsfeld's designation of France as "Old Europe," he pretended not to remember the secretary of defense's name and referred to him, sarcastically, as "that nice guy of America."

State Department officials thought Chirac would reach out to Washington once Bush was re-elected, and U.S. diplomats here say he has misread French opinion. On the contrary, playing the anti-American card is seen in political circles here as Chirac's strongest position as he prepares to run for a third five-year term in 2007. …

-snip-

[ONETWOONE]

No. Just let France sink into their own isolation. As each day goes by, I believe no matter who the U.S. President is, indivdual law makers won't forget the role that they played, including the food for oil scandal which helped the enemies munitions against our forces. Let that message ring out.

[no_mm]

HAHA -I'll bring pretzels ;)

[quidnunc]

xJones wrote: (They are a nuclear power. They have nuclear weapons but I dont know what kind of delivery systems they have.) Nuclear weapons age. Inspectors in Russia found that many of their vaunted nukes had gone past their shelf life, so to speak.

I have read that the French need American expertise to keep their nukes in good repair.

I don't know it that is so or not.

[Boiler Plate]

It must suck to be french.

[AmishDude]

America's chiding of the French is the reaction of a superpower to a silly little country. What we witness with France is what used to happen with Latin American dictators. They blamed the US for everything: Bread lines, low wages, high prices. Whatever it was, it was Uncle Sam's fault. Castro still does it to great effect. It's much easier to believe in the conspiracy concocted by the powerful villain than to be introspective. Chirac will run on a platform of: It's all Bush's fault. With the ginned up unpopularity of the Iraq war Bush is an easy villain.

(Why should the people of Europe care so freakin' much anyway? Yeah, Bush is a cowboy, doesn't listen to Chirac and might destroy the UN by uncovering the Oil for Food scandal and might eventually rise to the level of warmaking that Clinton engaged in, but get a grip, people, he's not going to make your espresso more bitter.)

On his recent visit to London, Chirac pressed for "multipolarity"

He's already experiencing bipolarity. I think he's crazy. For all of the chiding of the US for not engaging in enough diplomacy, it's Chirac who's making gratuitous and unnecessary insults at every turn.

[Porterville]

What is a france... and may I remind everyone that there is a moritorium of using the capital letter "F" whenever you write the word "france"... NO CAPITALS france isn't deserving of a capital.

[Desron13]

What is a france... and may I remind everyone that there is a moritorium of using the capital letter "F" whenever you write the word "france"... NO CAPITALS france isn't deserving of a capital.

Your right, my bad. My actual limited public education showing through. I graduated in 76.

[Desron13]

According to what I was taught, only actualy independent countries need be capitalized.

[dk/coro]

I must take exception to your statement that "France was once a Superpower"

Only in De Gaulles' dreams!

In the early days of WW-II, FDR and Churchill really did not know precisely what to do with the pompous and delusional De Gaulle. So, they used him modestly for PR purposes vis-a-vis the Free French vs Vichy.

But, essentially, De Gaulle was given a very short leash, and played virtually no role whatever in effecting wartime policy.

De Gaulle's Fifth Republic antics later, in the '60's, told us all we needed to know about his anti-American attitude, with his rude and arrogant blather against both US and NATO policy --even to the detriment of our strategic dealings with the USSR.

Nothing has changed. Current French policy is only a continuation of that untidy manifestation of a national inferiority complex.

To he** with Chirac. He is but a fly on the horses' back; due to be swatted at the appropriate time.

[Route101]

Up yours...France!!!

[libs_kma]

Very well put. Brilliant summation of modern day France!

[libs_kma]

When you're a national leader in charge of a country going down the tubes, blame someone else and divert your citizens' attention if you want to stay in power. It's worked for Castro for several decades...

I wonder how much of this statement fits Chirac and how much of his attitude toward the US is genuine... then I think about the rapid irrelevance of France on the world stage and I think it gives me the answer.

[Jimmy Valentine]

I don't think there is any problem with "les ordinaires" the basic French pople. It is with those elitest, existential, cynical s.o.b.'s in the Elysee Palace that cause the problem.

They sour everyone; even us.

regards,

[Mamzelle]

Every year, there are fewer speakers of French in the world. It is a dying language.

[RichardW]

I spent three years in France while in the USAF. And this was only 17 years after WWII. The French hated us then. This is not really new. A more unfriendly people I have seldom met.

[jpl]

"Our American friends... do not pay back favors."

I don't know, if you ask me our assistance in World War I and World War II was pretty good payback for their help in the Revolutionary War. I'm not sure what great "favors" they think they've done for since then.

[bert]

.....Only in De Gaulles' dreams!.....

I think he means Napoleon, 1805-1812.

[matchwood]

According to the book, "Our Oldest Enemies" France campaigned to skew the outcome of the election in 1796 between Jefferson and Adams. The French preferred Jefferson.

The French are just being themselves - nothing has changed in over 200 years. It would be in America's interest to get used to the idea that France is and always has been an enemy of America.

[scannell]

I thought I read somewhere where those local charges had been recently droped.

[TASMANIANRED]

"France was once a Superpower"

Go back about 3 more centuries. France had colonies all over the world. And caused problems in each one.

Haiti, French Guyana, Vietnam, Algeria.Canada....

This is not exclusive but England had colonies all over the world as well. When England left them, she left mostly stable Democracies of one or another form,

USA (kicked them out), Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, Jamaica. France left pest holes.