Posted on 01/14/2007 2:08:08 PM PST by FairOpinion
Improbable as it sounds today, by the time President Bush is rounding out his final term in office, his closest European ally and new best friend could be the president of France.
Nicolas Sarkozy, who on Sunday will clinch the ruling center-right party's nomination for the presidency, is an unabashed admirer of America. If Sarkozy can hold off Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal in what is expected to be a tight contest this spring, the sour relations between the U.S. and France will undoubtedly sweeten.
"I see a lot of American diplomats, politicians and journalists these days and I am telling them, yes, Nicolas Sarkozy is a friend of America. He admires American culture. He has no problem with money or success or working hard," Martinon said.
According to Sarkozy, the old way of doing business in France, aimed mainly at protecting its well-cushioned social welfare state, has left the country with a sclerotic economy, high unemployment and bleak prospects for the future.
Eric Besson, a member of the National Assembly from the Socialist Party, last month characterized Sarkozy as "an American neo-conservative with a French passport."
Sarkozy says there is nothing wrong with wanting to trim welfare benefits or encouraging people to work longer hours. He says he admires the flexibility of the American and British economic models, and wants to import some of their ideas.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
I hope he wins, too. But I wouldn't count on his doing too much. As for France, it will take a lot more than a few gestures to repair the damage they have done to us and to western civilization. Keep in mind that Chirac was a conservative. And de Gaulle, who hated the US, undermined us every chance he got, and pulled out of NATO, was a conservative. I don't expect France to change all that much under Sarkozy, although he's certainly better than the alternative.
Antoher article, more about Sarkozy:
Sarkozy wins presidential nomination. In bold speech, presidential candidate stresses values of 'republican right'
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/14/news/france.php
France better start becoming more friendly because Frnace has become over run with Muslim thugs. They are going to need some help and fast.
I always used to say, whenever you see a Frenchman, ask them if they speak German. When they say no, just tell them "you're welcome"
He stands an excellent chance of winning, unless Le Pen jumps in and siphons off conservative votes.
I always used to say, whenever a Frenchman sees an American, he should ask,
"Sung 'God Save the Queen' lately? No? You're welcome."What goes around comes around, Charlie.
I believe that French-American relationships can be improved, and improved dramatically post Chirac. I know that officially, Chirac is/was a "conservative" but I just prefer to think of him as an "ahole". His whole mission in life seemed to be to just spit in the face of the US.
I believe that both French as well as Americans can learn to see the glass as half full rather than half empty. Sure we have our differences and will going forward, but on the other hand, we have a history of close cooperation going back more than 200 years that is in both of our DNAs.
We both are going to be facing the same problems in the future not the least of which is the ROP. We could learn from the French in terms of preservation of cultural identity and language. They do a better job in that area than we do.
Right now the French find themselves in the same camp with Germany, among others, and to the average Frenchman, that's just wrong.
Finally, this Segolene gal is their version of Hillary! - all image and media puff sugarcoating a hard left agenda. If the French have the good sense to reject Sego - maybe it will light the way for us to purge our body politic of the junior senator from NY.
I'm not going to say that there haven't been awful things done and said during the Chirac tenure but we had our Carter and Clinton and got over it - we can only hope they will do the same.
there is nothing like a pillow of horsefeathers......
"He said that as president he would enforce French laws against polygamy and female circumcision."
It is amazing conservatives even have to say this in France.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1767578/posts
Sarkozy wins presidential nomination thread just posted in breaking.
Some people on this board act as if France is the only country in the world that America has had difficulties with.
Not all the French are the lunatic left, so the ball is in their court.
They've got much bigger problems than how the deal with us!
I'd love it if Sarkozy really turns things around. I'm just not sure if I believe it until I see it. I have visited France several times over the years, and love the country, but these political and cultural problems go very deep. Well, we'll see.
The irony is that those things you mentioned were considered radical socialism a hundred years ago.
I think the French should do what is best for France. If that coincides with what is good for the US- fair enough.
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